Promoting eyewitness recall through sketching in the self-administered interview

Abstract

The Cognitive Interview (CI) is a widely researched investigative method that promotes accurate and detailed recall from eyewitnesses. The Self-Administered Interview (SAI; Gabbert, 2009) is a booklet emulating the CI without the need for trained interviewers. Both the SAI and CI highlight the importance of context reinstatement, meaning that if the context of encoding is recreated at retrieval, then there will be an increase in the number of details recalled (Tulving & Thomson, 1973). The present study investigates the role of mental reinstatement of context (MRC) through sketching within the SAI. The three conditions are: MRC, MRC plus sketch, and no MRC. The current study hypothesizes the MRC plus sketch condition would recall more accurate details and fewer inaccurate details than the MRC or no MRC conditions. It was expected that drawing a sketch would serve as an external aid to working memory, allowing more cognitive effort to be available to recall additional details about a witnessed event. A total of N = 69 participants from the University of Central Oklahoma completed the study online by watching four convenience store security videos. Participants completed the SAI about a non-violent crime committed in one of the videos. After considering duration on task as a covariate, the results indicated there was no significant difference in accurate details recalled between any of the three conditions. Nor was there a difference in the number of memory errors between the three conditions. The hypotheses were not supported. Overall, participants recalled more accurate details about the people and actions involved in the crime compared to details about the setting or objects. The results of the current study may suggest that a sketch is not necessary to elicit accurate details after witnessing a crime. Future research should investigate this topic further in a more naturalistic setting, with longer retention intervals, and more complex crimes.