Alana C. Krix

Speaking is silver, writing is golden? The role of cognitive and social factors in written versus spoken witness accounts

Contradictory empirical findings and theoretical accounts exist that are in favor of either a written or a spoken superiority effect. In this article, we present two experiments that put the recall modality effect in the context of eyewitness reports to another test. More specifically, we investigated the role of cognitive and social factors in the effect. In both experiments, participants watched a videotaped staged crime and then gave spoken or written accounts of the event and the people involved. In Experiment 1, 135 participants were assigned to written, spoken-videotaped, spoken-distracted, or spoken-voice recorded conditions to test for the impact of cognitive demand and social factors in the form of interviewer presence. Experiment 2 (N = 124) tested the idea that instruction comprehensiveness differentially impacts recall performance in written versus spoken accounts. While there was no evidence for a spoken superiority effect, we found some support for a written superiority effect for description quantity, but not accuracy. Furthermore, any differences found in description quantity as a function of recall modality could be traced back to participants’ free reports. Following up with cued open-ended questions compensated for this effect, although at the expense of description accuracy. This suggests that current police practice of arbitrarily obtaining written or spoken accounts is mostly unproblematic.

Consistency across repeated eyewitness interviews: contrasting police detectives' beliefs with actual eyewitness performance.

In the legal system, inconsistencies in eyewitness accounts are often used to discredit witnesses’ credibility. This is at odds with research findings showing that witnesses frequently report reminiscent details (details previously unrecalled) at an accuracy rate that is nearly as high as for consistently recalled information. The present study sought to put the validity of beliefs about recall consistency to a test by directly comparing them with actual memory performance in two recall attempts. All participants watched a film of a staged theft. Subsequently, the memory group (N = 84) provided one statement immediately after the film (either with the Self-Administered Interview or free recall) and one after a one-week delay. The estimation group (N = 81) consisting of experienced police detectives estimated the recall performance of the memory group. The results showed that actual recall performance was consistently underestimated. Also, a sharp decline of memory performance between recall attempts was assumed by the estimation group whereas actual accuracy remained stable. While reminiscent details were almost as accurate as consistent details, they were estimated to be much less accurate than consistent information and as inaccurate as direct contradictions. The police detectives expressed a great concern that reminiscence was the result of suggestive external influences. In conclusion, it seems that experienced police detectives hold many implicit beliefs about recall consistency that do not correspond with actual recall performance. Recommendations for police trainings are provided. These aim at fostering a differentiated view on eyewitness performance and the inclusion of more comprehensive classes on human memory structure.

Providing eyewitnesses with initial retrieval support: what works at immediate and subsequent recall?

The effect of retrieval support on eyewitness recall was investigated in two experiments. Based on the outshining hypothesis, Experiment 1 tested whether retrieval support enhances witness performance (compared to free recall) especially when witnessing conditions are suboptimal (e.g., because witnesses were distracted during the crime). Eighty-eight participants watched a videotaped crime with either full or divided attention and subsequently received retrieval support with the Self-Administered Interview© (SAI) or completed a free recall (FR). One week later (Time 2 – T2) all participants completed a second FR. Unexpectedly, retrieval support did not lead to better memory performance than FR under divided attention conditions, suggesting that retrieval support is not effective to overcome adverse effects of divided attention. Moreover, presence of retrieval support at Time 1 (T1) had no effect on memory performance at T2. Experiment 2 (N = 81) tested the hypothesis that these T2-results were due to a reporting issue undermining the memory-preserving effect of T1-retrieval support by manipulating retrieval support (SAI vs. FR) at T1 and T2. As expected, T1-retrieval support led to increased accuracy at T2. Thus, the beneficial value of T1-retrieval support seems greatest with high-quality T2-interviews. Interviewers should consider this when planning a subsequent interview.

Deceiving suspects about the content of their alibis: consequences for truthful and untruthful suspects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test how modifying one’s alibi statement interacts with exposure to deceptive interrogation techniques. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 90 participants walked about a university building for 15 minutes and either stole an envelope from a staff pigeonhole (guilty condition) or put the envelope there along the way (innocent condition). Subsequently, participants were asked to provide an alibi for the past 15 minutes. Guilty and half of the innocent participants were instructed to omit that they had been in the vicinity of the pigeonholes. The rest of the innocent participants were asked to tell the truth. Several days later, participants were questioned about six statements taken from their alibis, three of which contained altered information. Findings – As expected, participants were largely blind to our alterations, with detection rates ranging from 1 to 36 percent. Contrary to cognitive load predictions, detection rates did not vary as a function of truthfu...

Masking the Identities of Celebrities and Personally Familiar Individuals: Effects on Visual and Auditory Recognition Performance

The current study compared the effectiveness of masking on recognition performance for faces and voices of celebrities and personally familiar individuals. On the basis of the theory suggesting stronger memory representations for personally familiar individuals, we expected masking to be more effective for celebrities than for personally familiar stimulus persons. Furthermore, we sought to replicate the face recognition advantage with masked stimuli. Face pixelation and electronic changes of the voice pitch were applied as masking techniques, using four masking levels for each stimulus. Thirty-one undergraduate students were presented with the masked faces and voices of 10 celebrities and 10 personally familiar fellow students. As expected, more correct recognitions occurred for faces than for voices, suggesting that masking does not counteract the mechanisms causing the face recognition advantage. Unexpectedly, masking effectiveness did not differ between celebrities and personally familiar individuals. This may be due to the type of personally familiar individuals used. Within personally familiar stimuli, increased familiarity did not predict the effectiveness of masking. Whereas the highest masking level eliminated speaker recognition, masking did not fully eliminate face recognition. From a practical perspective, the findings especially question the suitability of pixelation as a means for identity concealment.

How effective is retrieval support for witnesses with different levels of working and source memory

The present study examined the effectiveness of retrieval support for witnesses who differ in working memory capacity (WMC) and source monitoring abilities. We hypothesised that the provision of retrieval support, relative to free recall, would compensate deficits linked to lower working memory and source monitoring abilities by providing more structure and context cues for retrieval. Thus, we expected no associations between recall performance and WMC and source monitoring abilities in the retrieval support group, but significant positive associations in the free recall group. This study combined data from two experiments (N = 125) in which participants either received retrieval support with the Self-Administered Interview or completed a free recall along with working and source memory tests. Contrary to our expectations, presence of retrieval support did not moderate the relationship between WMC and recall performance. In one of two source memory tests, higher source memory scores were associated with more accurate accounts in the retrieval support group, whereas in the free recall group, lower source memory scores were associated with higher recall accuracy. This suggests that individuals with lower source memory abilities may not benefit from retrieval support. We encourage replication with a more heterogeneous sample.

Frightened by the perpetrator's voice: Startle responsivity and cognitive processing predict earwitness speaker identification

This study was inspired by the case of a robbery victim who was startled and reminded of the crime upon hearing a strangers voice, while not clearly recognizing the speaker. To investigate whether specific voices can modulate startle reactions and thereby predict speaker identification, we presented an audio hijack scenario to 84 participants and afterwards asked them to identify the perpetrator among neutral and negative speech fragments, while measuring flash-evoked eye-blink startle responses. Furthermore, we addressed data-driven cognitive processing during the audio scenario as a potential moderator in voice discrimination. Negative speech and the perpetrators voice led to potentiated startle. Enhanced startle was positively associated with voice discrimination, but only in neutral speech fragments. In negative fragments, this association was weakened as a function of self-reported levels of data-driven processing during encoding. Thus, startle responses can generally predict accurate voice recognition, but speech emotionality and cognitive processing moderate this relationship.