Accuracy,confidence and consistency in repeated recall of events

Abstract

In legal practice, both confidence and consistency of the testimony of eyewitnesses are often used as indicators for accuracy, but their usefulness has been questioned. The present study was designed to determine the relationship between accuracy, confidence and consistency in episodic memory. After viewing a video of a complex series of events, one group of participants was given an initial cued recall test after one week, and repeated recall tests after three and five weeks. A second group of participants was tested after three and five weeks, and a third group was tested only once after five weeks. Accuracy and confidence (at least for incorrect answers) decreased with longer initial retention intervals, but there was no decrease in either accuracy or confidence when recall was repeated. Repeated testing also did not lead to confidence inflation. Correlations between accuracy, confidence and consistency varied from medium to large. Inconsistencies were mainly caused by forgetting and reminiscence. These inconsistencies were recalled almost as accurately as consistently recalled information.     

Perceptions and Predictors of Children's Credibility of a Unique Event and an Instance of a Repeated Event

Perceptions of children's credibility were studied in two experiments wherein participants watched a videotape of a 4- to 5- or a 6- to 7-year old child report details of a play session that had been experienced once (single-event) or was the last in a series of four similar play sessions (repeat-event). The child's report was classified as high or low accurate. In Experiments 1 and 2, reports of repeat-event children were judged to be less believable on several measures. In Experiment 1, younger children were viewed as less credible than older children. In both experiments, neither undergraduates nor community members correctly discriminated between high- and low-accurate reports. Content analysis in Study 3 revealed the relationship between age and event frequency and children's credibility ratings was mediated by the internal consistency of children's reports. Recent research on children's reports of instances of repeated events has identified several challenges facing children who report repeated abuse. These data bring to light another potential difficulty for these children.     

Gathering human intelligence via repeated interviewing: further empirical tests of the Scharff technique

Research on investigative interviewing has only recently started to compare the efficacy of different techniques for gathering intelligence from human sources. So far the research has focused exclusively on sources interviewed once, thus overlooking that most sources are interviewed multiple times. The present study attempts to remedy this gap in the literature. Students (N?=?66) took on the role of semi-cooperative sources, holding incomplete information about an upcoming terrorist attack. The sources were informed that they would be interviewed at least once, and that additional interviews might follow. Half of the sources were interviewed on three occasions with the Scharff technique (consisting of five tactics), and the other half was interviewed on three occasions using the so-called direct approach (i.e. open-ended and specific questions). Collapsing the outcome over the three interviews, the Scharff technique resulted in significantly more new information compared to the direct approach. Furthermore, sources interviewed by the direct approach overestimated how much new information they had revealed, whereas the sources interviewed by the Scharff technique underestimated their contribution (although not significantly so). The current study advances previous research by further contextualizing the tests of the efficacy of human intelligence gathering techniques.     

The criminal act of commercial surrogacy in Australia: a call for review

Australian surrogacy legislation punishes the pursuit of a commercial surrogacy arrangement as a criminal offence. Such legislation was first introduced in Victoria in 1986 and has since been applied in every Australian jurisdiction except for the Northern Territory. The current application of criminal law is based upon this 1980s policy which has never been subject to public debate. This article argues that the continued application of criminal penalties to commercial surrogacy requires review.     

Spinouts from academic institutions: a literature review with suggestions for further research

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the phenomenon of spinouts from academic institutions. We systematically identified spinout papers in key management journals, categorised the literature and critically synthesised the findings. We present the findings of each literature stream in turn and also identify inconsistencies and directions for further research. We conclude that while the early literature has been mainly atheoretical and focused on describing the phenomenon, a core group of recent studies were theory-driven.

Police Interviewing and Interrogation: A Self-Report Survey of Police Practices and Beliefs

By questionnaire, 631 police investigators reported on their interrogation beliefs and practices-the first such survey ever conducted. Overall, participants estimated that they were 77% accurate at truth and lie detection, that 81% of suspects waive Miranda rights, that the mean length of interrogation is 1.6 hours, and that they elicit self-incriminating statements from 68% of suspects, 4.78% from innocents. Overall, 81% felt that interrogations should be recorded. As for self-reported usage of various interrogation tactics, the most common were to physically isolate suspects, identify contradictions in suspects' accounts, establish rapport, confront suspects with evidence of their guilt, and appeal to self-interests. Results were discussed for their consistency with prior research, policy implications, and methodological shortcomings.     

Inconsistencies in children's recall of witnessed events: The role of age,question format and perceived reason for question repetition

Purpose. Children's inconsistencies when answering repeated questions about past events are a source of concern in forensic, educational, and other contexts. Theoretical accounts of these inconsistencies have predominantly assumed that children shift because they infer adult dissatisfaction with their initial answer. This study aimed to test this account via examination of the effects of question format on shifting, as well as via direct questioning of children. Method. Four‐, five‐, and seven‐year‐olds (N = 226) were asked 17 recall questions about a recent classroom activity, with eight target questions repeated in one of four formats: no‐correct (mildly misleading questions to which the correct answer was ‘no’), yes‐correct (mildly misleading questions to which the correct answer was ‘yes’), specific open wh‐ questions, and forced‐choice questions. They were then asked about the adult's reasons for repetition. Accuracy, shifting, and interpretations of question repetition were examined. Results. Shifting from accuracy decreased with age, and was affected by question format in 4‐year‐olds only, who shifted more to no‐correct than to forced‐choice questions. Shifting towards accuracy was more common in forced‐choice questions than either no‐correct or open questions, but there were no significant age differences. First‐answer‐unsatisfactory interpretations of question repetition were rare, especially in the two younger groups. The oldest group offered a wider range of interpretations and also showed some evidence of an association between first‐answer‐unsatisfactory interpretations and shifting. Conclusions. Overall, our findings present a challenge to first‐answer‐unsatisfactory explanations of young children's shifting in recall settings, at least where overt pressure to shift is low. Forensic implications are considered.     

The promises and perils of the emotional Stroop task: A general review and considerations for use with forensic samples

Abstract

Assessing the implicit attitudes and beliefs of offenders has proved difficult over decades of work and research with offender samples. The purpose of this paper is to outline the research related to the use of the emotional Stroop task and to encourage researchers and practitioners to use it as a measure to assess the implicit attitudes of offenders within their assessments. We consider the factors that may influence Stroop results along with the research considerations that need to be taken into account when using an emotional Stroop paradigm. Currently, a significant limitation of the emotional Stroop task is a lack of standard word stimulus sets that are able to distinguish between offender types. This limitation could seriously impede further development of this tool. Suggestions for future research are proposed.     

Perceptions of global inequality: a call for research

In light of media attention to and growing public awareness of the globalizing economy, a case for the expanded empirical investigation of public perceptions of international income distribution and inequality is presented. Theoretical issues to be illuminated by such studies are considered; exploratory qualitative data are provided to illustrate the rich potential of such research; and a variety of issues that must be addressed when conducting future research in this area are reviewed.     

Expressed‐Interest Legal Representation for Children in Substitute Care: Evaluation of the Impact of Representation on Children's Permanency Outcomes

Based on a combination of administrative data; juvenile court record review; and informed‐participant interviews of juvenile court judges, attorneys, and service providers, the current study examines the impact of the Foster Children's Project (FCP). FCP is a program that provides professional legal representation to children in substitute care. Legal representation by FCP attorneys is found to increase the rate of children's exit to adoption, leading to a higher overall rate of exit to permanence. The rate of exit to reunification is not, however, found to be affected by FCP representation. Implications for juvenile court policy and practice are discussed.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• The study is the first of its kind to examine the impact of client‐directed representation in cases of children in foster care through examination of Palm Beach County's Foster Children's Project (FCP), which provides professional legal representation to those in state care.
• FCP representation was found to increase the rate of children's exit to adoption, leading to a higher overall rate of exit to permanence. The rate of exit to reunification, however, remained stable.
• Research findings are based on administrative data; juvenile court record review; and interviews of juvenile court judges, attorneys, and service providers.

     

Distributing State Children's Health Insurance Program funds: a critical review of the design and implementation of the funding formula

The development of formulas to distribute federal funds to states based on demographic data continues to challenge data and policy analysts. Analysts must forward the best objective statistical analysis and data inputs to formula specifications while acknowledging the politics of the legislative process that authorizes federal funding formulas. This article evaluates the federal funding formula for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) using key formula components of need, effort, capacity, and performance. We also examine the operationalization and measure of the target population in the SCHIP funding formula. Legislative decisions on formulas are, by nature, based on compromises that balance competing policy objectives. The analyst's role is to continually review current research standards, data quality, and relevant formula inputs and make recommendations to refine federal funding formulas to better target resources to their intended populations.     

The Suggestibility of Children's Memory for Being Touched: Planting,Erasing, and Changing Memories

Investigates recent claims that it is relatively easy to suggestively plant false memories in children, by comparing the relative vulnerability to suggestibility of changed, planted, and erased memories. 80 4-year-olds and 80 10-year-olds either were touched in a specific way or were not touched at all, and it was later suggested that a different touch, a completely new touch, or no touch at all had occurred. The suggestibility effect occurred only in the changed memory condition; the difference between the experimental changed condition and the corresponding control condition was significant. In the planted and erased memory conditions no suggestibility effect occurred; there was no significant reduction in the experimental groups relative to the corresponding control conditions. Thus, although it is relatively easy to suggest to a child a change in an event that was experienced, it is less likely that an event can be planted in or erased from memory. It is thus inappropriate to provide courtroom testimony regarding the probability of suggestively planting false memories based on the classic suggestibility research, which has largely been restricted to the study of suggestively changing memories.     

New York State of Mind: Parental Incarceration and Children's Visitation in New York State

The incarceration of a parent has a variety of negative effects on a child's psychological, academic, and developmental success. Children can end up in foster care as a result of the state terminating parental rights due to the parent's incarceration. Despite imprisonment of their parent(s), maintenance of visitation with the parent(s) is still important for their children. However, not all prisons have visitation programs that are suitable to visiting children. This Note proposes a model state statute that will recognize the importance of visitation, implement “child friendly” visitation programs, facilitate training for prison staff, and provide transportation for children in major cities to the prison facilities.     

Mea culpa,mea culpa: a call for privilege for self-disclosure of error in the setting of primary medical education

Medical errors cause 44,000 to 98,000 deaths per year, which is due, in part, to the lack of privileged self-reporting systems. Such systems are of great value to the medical community, especially to new doctors and to medical students. Nonetheless, because documents produced for self-reporting conferences and statements made against self-interest are admissible in court, many observers believe that doctors are discouraged from self-reporting errors. The author proposes the creation of a new medical self-disclosure privilege to protect and promote self-reporting systems, which will lead to a reduction in medical errors.