Supporting older eyewitnesses’ episodic memory: the self-administered interview and sketch reinstatement of context

ABSTRACT

Environmental support at retrieval improves episodic performance, yet there exists very few empirically evaluated techniques for supporting older witnesses/victims’ remembering (>65 years). We investigated two techniques for use in a criminal justice context – the Self-Administered Interview and Sketch Reinstatement of Context. Older adults (N = 134) witnessed an unexpected live event, following which half immediately completed a Self-Administered Interview and half did not (Time 1). All were interviewed 48 h later (Time 2) using one of three face-to-face interview techniques: Sketch Reinstatement of Context, Mental Reinstatement of Context, or no support Control. Those who completed a Self-Administered Interview at Time 1 recalled more correct information at Time 2 irrespective of interview condition and confabulated less. Likewise, participants interviewed using the Sketch Reinstatement of Context technique recalled more correct information and confabulated less, whether they had completed a Self-Administered Interview, or not. However, the Self-Administered Interview + Sketch Reinstatement of Context was the most effective combination, indicating an interaction between stabilising a memory trace quickly and how sketching appears to scaffold memory retrieval during face-to-face interviews.

KEYWORDS:

• Older eyewitnesses
• episodic memory
• self-administered interview
• sketch-reinstatement of context
• sketching to remember

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 From hereon we use the term witness to include both onlookers and victims of crime.

2 The term “best evidence” is based on the common law rule of evidence, the best [evidence] that the nature of the case will allow, and is used by the UK Ministry of Justice with reference to assisting vulnerable witnesses and victims to access justice by giving tailored support to help them give their best evidence (Ministry of Justice, 2011).

3 Some data from 45 participants has previously been reported (see Dando, 2013). Did this group differ in any way from the current group? – No.