How children talk about events: Implications for eliciting and analyzing eyewitness reports

Brubacher, Sonja P.; Peterson, Carole; Rooy, David L. Van; Dickinson, Jason J.; Poole, Debra Ann

doi:10.1016/j.dr.2018.12.003

Cited by 36 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 122 publications

(130 reference statements)

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“…The paradox of repeated event memory is that the very repetition that leads to strong and enduring scripts also hampers the ability to retrieve the correct details associated with individual episodes. Yet, the errors that children make when recalling individual episodes are far more likely to be internal intrusions (connecting a true detail that happened at some time to the wrong occurrence) than external intrusions; reports of details that never happened (Brubacher, Peterson, La Rooy, Dickinson, & Poole, 2019). There is evidence that the same is true for adults.…”

Section: Considerations Regarding Reports Of Repeated Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trial of three investigative interview techniques with minimally verbal adults reporting about occurrences of a staged repeated event.

Bearman¹,

Brubacher²,

Timms³

et al. 2019

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law

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The current study explored the effectiveness of three interview protocols on the number and specificity of details provided by minimally verbal adults about a staged repeated event. Eighty adults (with expressive sentence length of around 5 words, matched on measures of expressive language and intellectual functioning) participated in three live events and were pseudo-randomly assigned to receive one of three interviews. The narrative-first protocol exhausted recall with open-ended questions before focused questions were asked, the intermixed protocol paired openended questions immediately followed by related focused questions, and the visual cues protocol mimicked the narrative-first protocol but with the use of cue cards. Overall, participants reported more correct information about the last occurrence in the intermixed and visual than narrativefirst interview. The narrative-first interview elicited fewer internal intrusions (experienced details attributed to the wrong occurrence) compared to the visual, but not the intermixed interview.Expressive language and intellectual function were positively associated with the reporting of event-related details. Providing information about repeated events was challenging for minimally verbal adults; reporting of generic event details was more frequent than occurrence-specific details, one-third of participants answered a question about event frequency incorrectly (by saying they participated once), and the remaining participants provided few details about the other occurrences when directed to do so. Findings were consistent with the broader repeated event literature on children and adult witnesses recalling repeated events. This research provides guidance for investigative interviewers on how best to obtain accurate event-related information from minimally verbal adults about their experiences.

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Section: Considerations Regarding Reports Of Repeated Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trial of three investigative interview techniques with minimally verbal adults reporting about occurrences of a staged repeated event.

Bearman¹,

Brubacher²,

Timms³

et al. 2019

Psychology, Public Policy, and Law

Self Cite

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“…Considering the limited cognitive and verbal abilities of preschoolers, they cannot give as complete accounts as older children or adults (Goodman & Reed, 1986). Although their ability to give detailed and coherent narratives develop throughout childhood (Fivush, 2011), many preschoolers can be highly accurate when questioned in a developmentally sensitive manner (Brubacher et al, 2019). During the last decades, concerns have been raised regarding how to interview preschoolers to facilitate their witness accounts without compromising their accuracy (Poole, Dickinson, & Brubacher, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschoolers’ true and false reports: Comparing effects of the Sequential Interview and NICHD protocol

Magnusson

Joleby

Ernberg

et al. 2020

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose. The current study aimed to examine a Norwegian technique for conducting investigative interviews with preschoolers: the Sequential Interview (SI). The SI advocates for increased initial rapport building and includes a predetermined break before the substantive phase. To explore the potential benefits and risks of the SI, the technique was compared with an adapted version of the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) protocol. Methods. A total of 129 preschoolers (3-6 years) were interviewed with either the SI or NICHD protocol about a self-experienced (Exp. I) or non-experienced (Exp. II) event. Result. For Exp. I, no significant difference was observed across interview conditions in the number of reported details about a self-experienced event. Children interviewed with the SI exhibited a slightly lower accuracy rate compared to those interviewed with the NICHD protocol. For Exp. II, a total of 31.1% of the preschoolers initially assented to remembering a fictive (false) experience and 15.6% gave an account (>40 details) of the non-experienced event. We found no difference between interviewing conditions in assent rates or number of false accounts. Conclusions. The study provides valuable insights into the difficulties involved when interviewing young children. The results showed few differences between the novel SI model and the well-established NICHD protocol. While many preschoolers could provide accurate testimony, some embedded worrisome false details in their narratives. Furthermore, a minority of children gave false reports about non-experienced events when interviewed with the two techniques. Methodological limitations and suggestions for future research will be discussed.

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“…The statements provided by child complaints and suspects typically constitute the primary sources of information, particularly as the presence of corroborative evidence is often scarce . During the last four decades, a considerable amount of research has increased our knowledge of forensic child interviewing during CSA investigations (see e.g., Brubacher, Peterson, La Rooy, Dickinson, & Poole, 2019). Likewise, tactics for suspect interviews have received substantial merited attention from the scientific community (see, e.g., Kassin et al, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Swedish and Norwegian police interviewers’ goals, tactics, and emotions when interviewing suspects of child sexual abuse

Magnusson¹,

Joleby²,

Luke³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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As the suspect interview is one of the key elements of a police investigation, it has received a great deal of merited attention from the scientific community. However, suspect interviews in child sexual abuse investigations is an understudied research area. In the present mixed-methods study, we examine Swedish (n = 126) and Norwegian (n = 52) police interviewers’ self-reported goals, tactics, and emotional experiences conducting interviews with suspected child sexual abuse offenders. Following a qualitative approach, we asked the practitioners how they manage different emotions that may arise during the interview. The thematic analysis revealed extreme consistency regarding the importance of not expressing emotions in the interview room. Instead, participants described different strategies that could be used after the interview to manage and process their emotional reactions. The quantitative analyses, on the other hand, found associations between the interviewers’ self-reported goals, tactics, and emotions during suspect interviews. Specifically, interviewers who reported experiencing more negative emotions were more likely to employ confrontational tactics. Cross-country differences were observed regarding the interviewers’ self-reported tactics and goals, with Swedish interviewers using confrontational tactics and prioritizing obtaining a confession from the suspect more frequently compared to Norwegian interviewers. Organizational differences between countries may explain these findings. While almost two decades have passed since Norway implemented a research-based interview model (KREATIV), Sweden is still working towards creating and implementing a national model. The present findings provide an initial exploration of the potentially complex relationship between the goals, tactics, and emotional experiences of police interviewers who question child sexual abuse suspects.

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How children talk about events: Implications for eliciting and analyzing eyewitness reports

Cited by 36 publications

References 122 publications

Trial of three investigative interview techniques with minimally verbal adults reporting about occurrences of a staged repeated event.

Trial of three investigative interview techniques with minimally verbal adults reporting about occurrences of a staged repeated event.

Preschoolers’ true and false reports: Comparing effects of the Sequential Interview and NICHD protocol

Swedish and Norwegian police interviewers’ goals, tactics, and emotions when interviewing suspects of child sexual abuse

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