chat forensics interviews

What is eyewitness testimony?

Evidence given by witnesses to a crime, usually as a verbal account or person identification.

What type of memory are eyewitness recollections usually based on?

Episodic memory.

What is episodic memory?

Memory for personally experienced events containing details of what, when, and where something happened.

According to Schacter & Addis (2007), memory is what type of process?

A constructive rather than reproductive process.

What does it mean that memory is constructive?

Memories are reconstructed and therefore prone to errors and distortions.

Why is eyewitness memory important in law?

Jurors perceive eyewitness evidence as compelling and it can strongly influence verdicts.

What is the leading cause of wrongful convictions?

Eyewitness misidentification.

Approximately what percentage of wrongful convictions involve eyewitness misidentification?

Around 70%.

What did DNA exoneration cases show about eyewitness identification?

Many wrongful convictions involved mistaken eyewitness identification.

What are the three stages of memory processing?

Acquisition/encoding, storage/retention, retrieval.

At which stages of memory can errors occur?

Errors can occur at all three stages.

What is acquisition/encoding?

The process of perceiving and learning information.

What is storage/retention?

The process of maintaining information in memory over time.

What is retrieval?

The process of accessing stored information later.

Why is encoding considered critical in eyewitness memory?

What is encoded forms the basis for what is later stored and retrieved.

Name five factors that can influence encoding during a crime.

Exposure duration, crime seriousness, violence, weapon presence, perpetrator characteristics/disguises.

What is the video camera analogy in memory research?

The idea that memory records events like a video camera.

Why is the video camera analogy inaccurate?

Memory is reconstructive and influenced by expectations, schemas, and attention.

What is bottom-up processing?

Data-driven processing determined directly by environmental stimuli.

What is top-down processing?

Processing influenced by expectations, knowledge, and memory rather than the stimulus itself.

Which type of processing is data-driven?

Bottom-up processing.

Which type of processing relies on expectations and prior knowledge?

Top-down processing.

What is a schema?

A mental framework or body of knowledge that helps organise and interpret information.

How do schemas influence memory?

They guide expectations and affect how new information is processed and remembered.

What is a script in schema theory?

A common schema for how events usually occur.

Give an example of a script.

Ordering food in a restaurant.

How can schemas affect eyewitness testimony?

Witnesses may fill in gaps in memory using expectations or prior knowledge.

What is perceptual set?

A tendency to perceive information in a way influenced by expectations and prior experience.

Besides schemas, what other factors influence encoding?

Situational influences and cognitive factors such as attention.

What does the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve show?

Memory declines over time as retention interval increases.

What relationship does the forgetting curve demonstrate?

An inverse relationship between memory and retention interval.

What did Schmolck et al. (2000) investigate?

Memory for how people heard the O.J. Simpson verdict.

What did Schmolck et al. (2000) find?

Participants showed major distortions in memory over time despite high confidence.

What important conclusion comes from Schmolck et al. (2000)?

Confidence in memory does not necessarily indicate accuracy.

What is encoding specificity?

The principle that retrieval is best when retrieval conditions match encoding conditions.

Who proposed encoding specificity?

Tulving (1979).

According to encoding specificity, what improves memory retrieval?

Similarity between encoding and retrieval conditions.

What are two possible explanations for retrieval failure?

The memory trace is gone, or it exists but cannot be accessed.

What did Godden & Baddeley (1975) investigate?

Context-dependent memory using underwater and land learning conditions.

What did Godden & Baddeley (1975) find?

Recall was best when learning and testing contexts matched.

What is context-dependent memory?

Improved recall when retrieval context matches encoding context.

What aspects of an experience are certain to be encoded?

Only aspects specifically attended to.

What is recall?

Bringing information to mind in response to a cue.

What is recognition?

Judging whether information has been encountered before.

Which is usually better: recall or recognition?

Recognition.

Why is recognition usually more accurate than recall?

Recognition provides more retrieval cues.

What type of memory task is eyewitness reporting usually based on?

Recall.

What type of task is an identification parade?

A recognition task.

Why can errors occur in identification parades?

Witnesses can be misled by officers or influenced by overheard beliefs.

Which studies found errors in identification procedures due to influence from officers?

Bradfield, Wells & Olson (2002); Eisen et al. (2017).

What is the cognitive interview (CI)?

An interviewing technique designed to improve eyewitness recall using principles of memory research.

Why was the cognitive interview developed?

To apply psychological research on memory to real-world police interviewing.

What problems were found in real police interviews?

Frequent interruptions, over-talking, excessive closed questions, leading questions, and poor sequencing.

Why are closed questions problematic in eyewitness interviews?

They restrict elaboration and encourage superficial retrieval.

Why are leading questions problematic?

They can distort witness memory and bias responses.

What type of questions are recommended in witness interviews?

Open questions.

What is confirmation bias in police interviewing?

The tendency to seek information confirming existing beliefs.

What did Wright & Alison (2004) find about police interviews?

They often began with closed questions followed by rapid yes/no questioning.

How can confirmation bias affect witness interviews?

Investigators may focus witnesses on details supporting their assumptions.

What did Kleider-Offutt et al. (2015) find?

Investigators’ beliefs about emotional witnesses influenced questioning style.

What is the first principle of the cognitive interview?

Mental context reinstatement.

What is mental context reinstatement?

Encouraging witnesses to mentally recreate the sights, sounds, feelings, and thoughts present during the event.

Why does mental context reinstatement improve recall?

It increases retrieval cues by reinstating encoding context.

What is the second principle of the cognitive interview?

Report everything.

What does the report everything instruction involve?

Witnesses recall every detail, even if it seems unimportant.

Why does report everything improve memory retrieval?

Small details can trigger additional retrieval cues and maintain chain of thought.

What is the third principle of the cognitive interview?

Reverse order.

What does reverse order involve?

Recalling the event from different starting points, such as backwards.

Why is reverse order useful?

It reduces reliance on scripts and may activate different retrieval cues.

What is the fourth principle of the cognitive interview?

Change perspective.

What does change perspective involve?

Recalling the event from another person’s viewpoint.

Why is change perspective used?

To increase retrieval cues and reduce gap filling.

Why is change perspective sometimes avoided by police?

The information may be viewed as hearsay.

What did Geiselman et al. (1984) investigate?

The effectiveness of the cognitive interview.

What did Geiselman et al. (1984) find?

The CI produced more correct information after 48 hours.

Did Geiselman et al. (1984) find more incorrect information in the CI condition?

No significant increase in incorrect information.

Which meta-analysis challenged the finding that CI does not increase incorrect information?

Köhnken et al. (1999).

What did Memon et al. (2010) conclude about the cognitive interview?

It supported findings that CI can increase both correct and incorrect information.

What did Mosser & Evans (2019) find about the CI?

It improved information gathering in contact tracing situations.

What is Open Depth in the cognitive interview?

A technique encouraging another round of recall focusing on little details.

Who developed the Open Depth technique?

Brunel, Py & Launay (2013).

What did Open Depth improve?

The amount of correct and surrounding detail recalled.

What is re-enactment in interviewing?

A technique focusing on recalling actions and verbatim memories.

Why are verbatim memories important?

They are less influenced by schemas than gist memories.

Who investigated re-enactment?

Launay & Py (2017).

What did Launay & Py (2017) find?

Re-enactment increased correct information and action details.

What is the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI)?

A version of the CI including social and communication techniques alongside memory techniques.

Who developed the Enhanced Cognitive Interview?

Fisher & Geiselman (1992).

What additional techniques are included in the ECI?

Establishing rapport, transferring control to the witness, improving listening, and reducing intimidation.

What did Fisher, Geiselman & Amador (1989) find about the ECI?

It elicited 47% more information with high corroboration rates.

What did Köhnken et al. (1999) conclude about CI/ECI performance?

They increase correct details compared with standard interviews.

What did Crossland et al. (2020) find?

The ECI benefited intoxicated witnesses.

Do police consistently use the CI/ECI in practice?

No.

What did Clarke & Milne (2001) find about CI use?

Little evidence of CI use after training.

Which CI techniques are used least often by police?

Change perspective and mental context reinstatement.

Why are CI and ECI techniques not always used?

They are time consuming and difficult to explain.

What is the reconstructive view of memory?

Memory is rebuilt using past experiences, beliefs, and goals rather than replayed exactly.

Why may two people remember the same event differently?

Because memory is influenced by individual experiences, values, and goals.

What is one major issue with applying eyewitness research to real life?

Questions about generalisability to real-world witness situations.

What is another major issue with CI research?

Police may not implement the techniques correctly or consistently.