Rui Paulo

New procedures to improve eyewitness memory and evaluate report accuracy in criminal investigations

Unlike how it is usually portrayed on television, physical/ biological evidence is often absent from a crime scene. Thus, the police may rely on eyewitness testimony, particularly at the early stages of an investigation. However, due to factors such as perception or memory, what witnesses report seldom corresponds fully with the witnessed event. Psychologists addressed this issue and contributed towards developing techniques that produce more informative and accurate testimonies (e.g. cognitive interviewing). Nonetheless, eyewitnesses still commit errors and omit important information. This talk will outline our research focused on developing and testing new retrieval strategies that can increase the amount of relevant information eyewitnesses are able to recall and evaluate what information is more likely to be reliable.