SARMAC 2017
In January 2017 Nina Tupper, Shiri Portnoy, Gary Dalton and Feni Kontogianni will present their research in the Society for Applied Research Memory and Cognition (SARMAC) conference in Sydney, Australia.
Below you will find the abstracts for each of our talks.
Nina Tupper
Title: Context cues enhance face recognition performance: Can we stretch the effect?
Abstract: When participants study pairs of faces, one of the faces can be used at test to enhance participants’ recognition accuracy: Compared to no cues, correct face-cues improve accuracy, while incorrect face-cues reduce accuracy. We test the limits of this effect by adding two conditions (single-face control, four-face condition) to the study-phase. We test boundary conditions to identify 1) whether previously-reported effects reflect a benefit of correct cuing, a detriment of incorrect cuing, or both, and 2) how cuing effects vary as a function of the number of cues to be encoded. Results are discussed in the context of cued-recognition.
Title: Identification decisions for multiple perpetrator crimes: Testing for sequential effects
Abstract: Research demonstrates that a current recognition decision can be influenced by previous ones, meaning that the multiple responses are not independent. Two experiments tested whether initial eyewitness recognition decisions impacted the accuracy and choosing behavior for subsequent show-up identification decisions. Participants watched a mock-crime video and later made showup identification decisions for three suspects corresponding to the three perpetrators in the video. Results of both experiments revealed some evidence for sequential effects for choosing, but the effect was inconsistent. Follow-up experiments test whether methodological differences between the recognition and the eyewitness identification paradigms underpin the inconsistent findings.
Shiri Portnoy
Title. Strategic regulation and reporting in the alibis of innocent and guilty suspects.
Abstract: Alibis provided by innocent suspects often fail to convince interviewers of their innocence. We examined the effects of pre-alibi instructions on alibis provided by guilty and innocent suspects. Drawing on Koriat and Goldsmith’s (1996) model of strategic regulation, participants provided alibis for an apparent theft. Participants received instructions that emphasized (i) accuracy; (ii) informativeness; or, (iii) both accuracy and informativeness. Control participants received no special instructions. In light of research on memory, alibi quality and quantity are expected to be highest for truth-tellers. This is the first study to examine regulation and reporting in alibis of innocent and guilty suspects.
Gary Dalton
Title: Person description information: An examination of frontline communication
Abstract: Person descriptions provided by witnesses form an important source of information for police investigations. Unfortunately, these descriptions tend to be non-distinct. The present study aimed to examine what happens at the scene of an incident and provide a frontline examination of how witnesses describe a suspect for the first time. Video footage of incidents taken over a 15-month period was viewed. The Koriat and Goldsmith (1996) Metacognitive Model of Memory Regulation was used to examine the level of detail witnesses provided to frontline officers. The questions asked by officers were also evaluated to see which yielded the most information.
Feni Kontogianni
Title: Introducing a new mnemonic to the Timeline Technique: the use of Self-Generated Cues
Abstract: The Timeline Technique uses an innovative reporting format to elicit information from witnesses and informants. This study extends the timeline methodology by testing a theoretically-informed mnemonic, Self-Generated Cues (SGC), to further facilitate retrieval for unique associated traces in comparison to generic interviewer-defined cues, e.g. Mental Reinstatement of Context (MRC). One hundred and thirty-five participants witnessed a multi-perpetrator theft under full or divided attention and provided an account in one of three timeline reporting conditions comparing the efficacy of SGC, MRC, and no mnemonics (control). Results reflecting enhanced performance in the SGC condition have implications for eliciting information for complex events.
Copyright 2014 Hope