Description
A key component of the Cognitive Interview, the mode of interviewing witnesses of a crime with the strongest empirical backing, is context reinstatement. The principle behind context reinstatement is that helping witnesses imagine themselves as they were at the time of the crime facilitates memory retrieval due to the context dependent nature of memory. Sometimes, to facilitate memory, the police may even bring the witness back to the scene of the crime in order to prompt additional memories. There are some suggestions that crime scene visits might be especially helpful for some subgroups, such as individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder because specific memory deficits make context reinstatement difficult. The difficulty is that it is often prohibitively difficult to bring witnesses to the crime scene. A plausible alternative is to develop a VR environment and have witnesses virtually revisit the crime scene. This project aims to:
1. Determine whether an already developed virtual environment facilitates memory retrieval to a similar, or greater extent than standard interviews, cognitive interviews or physical scene visits (specific comparisons dependent on student interest)
2. The longer term the project seeks to determine if there are specific benefits for specific types of witness, for example neurodiverse or child witnesses. If there si sufficient interest and ability toa ccess these populations then the project may also take on this additonal focus.
This project will be completed in collaboration with the BMS lab who will provide technical support, but there is an expectation that you work with them to become proficient in the use of the equipment.
Research questions
1. Does a virtual visit to a crime scene facilitate more complete and accurate memory recall than physical visits or only verbal context reinstatment?
2. Does the effectiveness of a virtual environment differ depending upon specific characteristics of the witness?
Type of research
Experimental research.
Key words
Witness interviewing, investigative interview, memory, context reinstatment.
Information
This project follows up on an ongoing MSc internship, therefore it will be a team project with at least one other MSc student and possibly BSc thesis students. A team is necessary for performing mock crimes and holding interviews with participants.
Please contact Steven Watson (s.j.watson@utwente.nl) when you are interested in this assignment.
Start
Block 1A.
Literature
Peter W. de Vries , Jordy F. Gosselt , and Jeroen Timmer (2023) The virtual crime scene: Virtual reality context reinstatement as a means to increase the quality of eyewitness statements. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/t8hqa
Hoogesteyn, K., Meijer, E., & Vrij, A. (2020). Examining witness interviewing environments. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 17(3), 238-249. https://doi.org/10.1002/jip.1549
Maras, K. L., & Bowler, D. M. (2012, Aug). Context reinstatement effects on eyewitness memory in autism spectrum disorder. British Journal of Psychology, 103, 330-342. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02077.x
Spreeuwers, N.E. (2016) Arousing Memory: Memories Obtained From Virtual Reality Are As Correctly Recalled As Memories Obtained From Conventional Two-Dimensional Screens. MSc thesis: https://essay.utwente.nl/71405/
Timmer, J., de Vries, P. W., & Gosselt, J. F. (2023, March 3). The virtual crime scene: Virtual reality context reinstatement as a means to increase the quality of eyewitness statements. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/t8hqa