Makiko Naka

The NICHD protocol: a review of an internationally-used evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review an evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers called the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol (NICHD Protocol), with a specific focus on how the Protocol is being adapted in various countries. Design/methodology/approach – The authors include international contributions from experienced trainers, practitioners, and scientists, who are already using the Protocol or whose national or regional procedures have been directly influenced by the NICHD Protocol research (Canada, Finland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway, Portugal, Scotland, and USA). Throughout the review, these experts comment on: how and when the Protocol was adopted in their country; who uses it; training procedures; challenges to implementation and translation; and other pertinent aspects. The authors aim to further promote good interviewing practice by sharing the experiences of these international experts. Findings – The NICHD Protocol can be easily incorporated into existing training programs worldwide and is available for free. It was originally developed in English and Hebrew and is available in several other languages. Originality/value – This paper reviews an evidence-based tool for training child forensic interviewers called the NICHD Protocol. It has been extensively studied and reviewed over the past 20 years. This paper is unique in that it brings together practitioners who are actually responsible for training forensic interviewers and conducting forensic interviews from all around the world.

Why does life appear to speed up as people get older

In this study, the influence of contemporaneous and retrospective recall of time pressure on the experience of time was examined. Participants (N = 868) first indicated how fast the previous week, month, year, and 10 years had passed. No effects of age were found, except on the 10-year interval. The participants were subsequently asked how much time pressure they experienced presently and how much time pressure they had experienced 10 years ago. Participants who indicated that they were currently experiencing much time pressure reported that time was passing quickly on the shorter time intervals, whereas participants who indicated that they had been experiencing much time pressure 10 years ago reported that the previous 10 years had passed quickly. Cross-sectional comparisons of past and present time pressure suggested that participants systematically underestimated past time pressure. This memory bias offers an explanation of why life appears to speed up as people get older.

Cross-cultural variability of component processes in autobiographical remembering: Japan, Turkey, and the USA.

Although the underlying mechanics of autobiographical memory may be identical across cultures, the processing of information differs. Undergraduates from Japan, Turkey, and the USA rated 30 autobiographical memories on 15 phenomenological and cognitive properties. Mean values were similar across cultures, with means from the Japanese sample being lower on most measures but higher on belief in the accuracy of their memories. Correlations within individuals were also similar across cultures, with correlations from the Turkish sample being higher between measures of language and measures of recollection and belief. For all three cultures, in multiple regression analyses, measures of recollection were predicted by visual imagery, auditory imagery, and emotions, whereas measures of belief were predicted by knowledge of the setting. These results show subtle cultural differences in the experience of remembering.

The phenomenology and temporal distributions of autobiographical memories elicited with emotional and neutral cue words.

In this study we examined whether the temporal distribution of autobiographical memory changes when different types of cue words are used to elicit the memories, and how the type of cue word affects the phenomenal characteristics of the memories. A total of 76 participants, ranging in age from 21 to 69 years, were presented with 22 cue words (emotional, emotion-provoking, and neutral). They were asked to recall a personal event and to complete the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (Rubin, Schrauf, & Greenberg, 2003, 2004) for each cue word. Results showed that the phenomenological properties of autobiographical memories which were cued with emotional and emotion-provoking words were rated higher than those of memories which were cued with neutral words, and that the peak in the temporal distributions of the autobiographical memories that were cued with emotional or emotion-provoking words were located later than the peak of the distribution of the memories that were cued with neutral words.

Age and gender effects in the cultural life script of Japanese adults

Life scripts are culturally shared expectations about the timing and order of life events in an idealised life course. To examine whether cultural life scripts are semantic knowledge about expectations of life events or personal memories of those life events, Japanese young, middle-aged and older adults imagined an ordinary infant with the same gender and cultural background as themselves and named the seven most important events that are likely to take place in the life of this prototypical child. The content and temporal distributions of the reported events were examined for age and gender effects. As expected, there were no differences in the content and temporal distribution of the life script events, suggesting that life scripts are indeed semantic knowledge. The results were also compared to the results of a previous study with Dutch participants. Only differences in the content of the life scripts were found between the two cultures.

Higher Social Intelligence Can Impair Source Memory

Source monitoring is made difficult when the similarity between candidate sources increases. The current work examines how individual differences in social intelligence and perspective-taking abilities serve to increase source similarity and thus negatively impact source memory. Strangers first engaged in a cooperative storytelling task. On each trial, a single word was shown to both participants, but only 1 participant was designated to add a story sentence, using this assigned word. As predicted, social intelligence negatively predicted performance in a subsequent source-monitoring task. In a 2nd study, preventing participants from being able to anticipate their partners next contribution to the story eliminated the effect.

A Training Program for Investigative Interviewing of Children

In 2010, the Prevention of Child Abuse Act (Kodomo Gyakutai Boshi Ho) was issued in Japan. People have since become more aware of neglect as well as physical, psychological, and sexual abuse against children. The number of referrals to child guidance centers, where social workers and psychologists seek to protect children, increased from approximately 17000 cases in 2000 to more than 60000 cases in 2013 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2013). However, not all of these referrals go to court. According to an annual report by the National Police (National Police Agency, Juvenile delinquency and related matters, 2011), less than 500 cases were treated as “cases” in 2013. One of the problems hindering children’s voice from reaching court is the difficulties in eliciting high quality of information from children. Conducting a good interview is becoming more important than ever.

Citizen's psychological knowledge, legal knowledge, and attitudes toward participation in the new Japanese legal system, saiban-in seido

A new procedure, saiban-in seido, was introduced in the Japanese criminal court in 2009.1 A mixed tribunal of three professional judges and six lay people selected from a list of voters deliberate the verdict in serious criminal cases such as murder, rape, and arson. This study researched lay peoples attitudes toward the new system, their psychological knowledge (e.g. the reliability of eyewitness testimony) and legal knowledge (e.g. ‘presumed innocent’), and the relationship between attitude and knowledge. Study 1 examined the responses of 294 citizens to a questionnaire; 90 responses were examined in Study 2 (both samples consisted of two age groups, i.e. (1) 20s and (2) 40s and 50s, and two education levels, i.e. (1) college or below and (2) university or more. In both studies, respondents showed concerns about their lack of ability and knowledge to become a lay judge. Although legal knowledge was related to attitude – i.e. the more legal knowledge, the less negativity – no relationship was found between psychological knowledge and attitude. Relevant support for citizens to become lay judges was discussed.