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How does timing of recall affect eyewitness memory and psychological distress?

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Abstract

Immediate-recall tools, such as the Self-Administered Interview (SAI; Gabbert, Hope, & Fisher, 2009), have been designed to improve eyewitness performance by eliciting a comprehensive initial report. However, preliminary evidence suggests that such tools may increase psychological distress when the witnessed event is traumatic. Literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suggests that delaying administration of the SAI after witnessing trauma may be appropriate and may prevent harmful psychological effects. The first aim of this study was to investigate the psychological effects of delayed as opposed to immediate administration of the SAI after witnessing a traumatic event. The second aim of this study was to investigate whether this delay would then affect the SAI as a tool for improving eyewitness performance at a later stage. Eighty participants viewed a trauma-analogous video and then completed the SAI immediately, after one day, or not at all. Despite finding increases in anxiety after its completion, the SAI was not found to have an effect on PTSD symptoms at follow-up conducted one week later, irrespective of whether it was completed immediately or after a delay. On the other hand, delaying the SAI reduced memory performance and rendered it ineffective as a tool for improving memory.

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Notes

  1. Pearson correlations were used to analyse inter-rater reliability because Kappa would not be appropriate given how many empty cells there could be (for example, there were over 700 responses that could have been given for the accurate non-critical items). Since most of the possible details were not recalled by most participants, the Kappa would be artificially inflated as all participants would be scoring ‘zero’ on a number of items.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by two Australian Research Council Linkage Grants (LP110100220 & LP0989719).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Thomas L. Mackay & Helen M. Paterson

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  1. Thomas L. Mackay
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  2. Helen M. Paterson
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Correspondence to Helen M. Paterson.

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Mackay, T.L., Paterson, H.M. How does timing of recall affect eyewitness memory and psychological distress?. J Police Crim Psych 30, 242–253 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-014-9156-z

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