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For better or worse, eyewitness testimonies make up common evidence in criminal trials. This has the benefit that it allows for guilty offenders to be convicted even in the absence of physical evidence. However, the fallibility of memory also means that eyewitnesses may be mistaken in their recall, risking wrongful, innocent convictions. This dilemma has sparked a multitude of studies on situations and factors that distort memory and make it unreliable, and consequently, situations where a testimony should be reliable. It has also sparked research into methods that attempt to distinguish between correct and incorrect memories. It is this latter research that forms the foundation for this thesis. In this thesis, I have attempted to improve judgments of eyewitness accuracy by examining the relationship between expressions of effort in memory retrieval, and accuracy. The thesis builds upon earlier studies demonstrating a negative relationship between retrieval effort and accuracy (easily retrieved memories are more often correct), and explores this relationship further in eyewitness testimonies, while also addressing a number of limitations. Three empirical studies were undertaken, wherein participants saw a fictitious crime and were interviewed as eyewitnesses (Study I & II), or read testimonies and judged the accuracy of statements (Study III). Study I showed that four (para)verbal markers of retrieval effort (“retrieval-effort cues”) were more common in incorrect recall compared to correct recall in eyewitness testimonies. Study I also showed that the retrieval-effort cues mediated between confidence in a memory, and accuracy. Study II replicated Study I and moreover, showed a robustness of the findings, as retrieval-effort cues predicted accuracy both directly after viewing an event, as well as two weeks later, even when witnesses had actively engaged in memory repetition. Finally, Study III showed that fact finders could be instructed to use retrieval-effort c, Vittnesmål från ögonvittnen utgör vanligt förekommande bevismaterial i rättsfall, vilket för med sig såväl gott som ont. En stor fördel är att det underlättar dömandet av skyldiga gärningspersoner i rättsfall där fysisk bevisföring saknas. Samtidigt innebär minnets felbarhet att ögonvittnen kan missta sig i sin minnesåterkallning, vilket kan leda till att personer döms för brott de inte begått. Utifrån detta dilemma har en stor mängd studier genomförts om situationer och faktorer som förvränger minnet och gör det opålitligt, och följaktligen också situationer där ett vittnesmål bör kunna vara pålitligt. Detta dilemma har också gett upphov till försök att ta fram metoder som kan särskilja mellan korrekta och felaktiga återkallade minnen, vilka lagt grunden för denna avhandling. I denna avhandling har jag försökt bidra till förbättringar av bedömningar gällande korrektheten i vittnens minnesåterkallelser, genom att undersöka sambandet mellan uttryck av ansträngning i minnesåterkallning och korrektheten i denna återkallning. Avhandlingen bygger på tidigare studier som påvisat ett negativt samband mellan ansträngning i återkallning och minnets korrekhet (enkelt framplockade minnen är oftare korrekta), och utforskar detta samband vidare för vittnesmål från ögonvittnen, samtidigt som flera begränsningar i den tidigare forskningen tas i beaktelse. Tre empiriska studier genomfördes, där deltagare fick se en fiktiv brottsfilm och sedan återkalla händelsen (Studie I & II), eller fick läsa vittnesmål och ombads bedöma korrektheten i påståendena (Studie III). Studie I visade att fyra (para)verbala uttryck av ansträngning i minnesåterkallning var mer vanligt förekommande i återkallning av felaktiga minnen jämfört med återkallning av korrekta minnen. Studie I visade också att ansträngningsuttrycken medierade sambandet mellan tilliten till minnet (konfidensen) och minnets korrekthet. Studie II replikerade Studie I, och styrkte därtill robustheten i sambandet mellan ansträngnin

When conducting initial forensic interviews, facilitating later retrieval in an efficient and timely manner is often important. A tool called The Self-Administered Interview (SAI) has been shown to facilitate later retrieval when completed initially. Even if less time-consuming than other interviewing protocols, it still takes considerable time to complete. This study compared the capability to facilitate later retrieval and temporal aspects of SAI and its separate parts to investigate the relative worth of each part. The two separate parts were a written, free recall and the rest of SAI without the free recall. Forty-five participants completed either of the parts after watching a fictious crime. Six days later a memory test was administered. This study used the same research design as two previous studies which allowed for integrated analysis using data from the three studies. SAI facilitated later retrieval by significantly increasing number of correct answers and decreasing number of incorrect answers. SAI without a free recall significantly decreased number of incorrect answers. SAI took approximately twice as long to complete as a written, free recall. SAI without free recall had comparable results as a free recall but took almost the same time to complete as SAI. An overall pattern for all initial actions was that an increase in complexity and comprehensive design, increased performance but also took longer to complete. If performance is priority and time is not a factor, SAI is recommended. If lowering time of completion is priority a free recall is the quickest action.

El objetivo del presente trabajo consistió en analizar la capacidad de personas con discapacidad intelectual ligera y moderada para identificar a personas desconocidas vistas durante un periodo de tiempo breve y evaluar los factores que pudieran facilitar la tarea minimizando los errores. Para ello, se presentó a dos grupos de sujetos, con discapacidad y control, una fotografía de una persona que tras una tarea distractora deberían identificar en dos ruedas de seis fotografías (una de objetivo ausente y otra de objetivo presente). Cada sujeto realizó cuatro ensayos, dos con fotografías de hombres y otras dos con fotografías de mujeres. Los resultados mostraron que las personas con discapacidad intelectual en comparación con los sujetos control cometían menos aciertos y más falsas alarmas y discriminaban peor las caras (d’), aunque con pocas diferencias en el criterio de respuesta (ß). La relación entre rendimiento y CI resultó significativa para algunos de los tipos de respuesta. [ABSTRACT] The aim of this study was to analyze the unfamiliar face recognition ability of people with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities and assess factors that might facilitate the task while minimizing errors. For this purpose, two groups had to recognize in two lineups with six photographs each (one present-target and one absent-target). Each subject performed four trials, two with pictures of men and two with women. Analysis of the results suggests that people with intellectual disabilities compared with control group made fewer hits and more false alarms and discriminate faces worst (d’), but with few differences in the response bias (ß). The relationship between unfamiliar face recognition performance and IQ was significant in some types of responses., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

The objective of this study was to analyze the features that dis-tinguish statements given by actual and simulated victims with mild to moderate intellectual disability, using the credibility analysis procedure known as Reality Monitoring (RM). Two evaluators trained in credibility analysis procedures using content criteria evaluated 13 true statements and 16 false statements. The results obtained show that there is little difference between the two types of statements when analyzed on the basis of content criteria using the RM procedure. The only criteria that proved to be signifi-cant for discriminating between the two types of statements were the amount of details and the length of spontaneous statements obtained through free recall. None of the phenomenological characteristics studied turned out to be significant for discriminating between actual and simulat-ed victims. Graphic representation using high-dimensional visualization (HDV) with all criteria taken into consideration shows that the two types of statements are quite heterogeneous. Cluster analysis can group cases with a 68.75% chance of accuracy., El objetivo del presente trabajo consistió en analizar las caracte-rísticas diferenciales de los relatos emitidos por víctimas reales y simuladas con discapacidad intelectual ligera y moderada mediante el procedimiento de análisis de credibilidad de Control de la Realidad (RM). Dos evaluadores entrenados en los procedimientos de análisis de credibilidad mediante crite-rios de contenido evaluaron 13 relatos verdaderos y 16 relatos falsos. Los resultados encontrados muestran que existen pocas diferencias entre los dos tipos de relatos. Los únicos criterios que resultan significativos para discriminar entre los dos tipos de relatos son la cantidad de detalles y la longitud de las declaraciones espontáneas obtenidas mediante recuerdo li-bre. Ninguna de las características fenomenológicas examinadas resultó sig-nificativa para discriminar entre víctimas reales y simuladas. La representa-ción gráfica mediante visualización hiperdimensional (HDV) considerando conjuntamente todos los criterios muestra una gran heterogeneidad entre relatos. Un análisis de conglomerados permitió clasificar los dos tipos de re-latos con una probabilidad de acierto del 68.75 por ciento., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

The aim of the present study was to examine the phenomenological qualities of self-reported negative andpositive memories. The study was conducted in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and a total of 134 autobiographi-cal memories about negative and positive events were analyzed using a version of the PhenomenologicalQuestionnaire for Autobiographical Memory (Manzanero & López, 2007). Participants were universitystudents, 80 percent were women and 20 percent were men. Results showed that negative memories aremore confused, more complex, and decay more over time than positive ones. In contrast, no differenceswere found between positive and negative memories on sensory information, spatial location, vividness,definition, accessibility, fragmentation, recall perspective, doubts about the accuracy of the memory, andhow much participants recovered and talked about the event. High Dimensional Visualization (HDV)graph revealed that there were individual differences between negative and positive memories but noconsistent differences across participants., El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar mediante auto-informe las características fenomenológicas de los recuerdos negativos y positivos. El estudio se llevó a cabo en la Franja de Gaza, Palestina, y se analizaron un total de 134 recuerdos autobiográficos sobre eventos negativos y positivos utilizando una versión del Cuestionario de Características Fenomenológicas de Recuerdos Autobiográficos (Manzanero y López, 2007). Los participantes eran estudiantes universitarios, 80 por ciento mujeres y 20 por ciento hombres. Los resultados mostraron que los recuerdos negativos fueron más confusos, más complejos y más deteriorados que los positivos. Por el contrario, no se encontraron diferencias entre los recuerdos positivos y negativos en información sensorial, localización espacial, viveza, definición, accesibilidad, fragmentación, perspectiva de recuperación, dudas sobre la exactitud de la memoria y cantidad de veces que los participantes recuperaron y hablaron sobre el evento. El gráfico de Visualización Híper-Dimensional (HDV) muestra que existen diferencias individuales entre los recuerdos negativos y positivos, pero no hay diferencias consistentes entre los participantes, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of presentation format and instructions on the ability of people with intellectual disability to identify individuals they did not know and had seen only briefly. With this objective in mind, 2 groups of subjects with mild to moderate intellectual disability were shown a photograph of a person and, after a distracting task, were asked to identify that person in 2 line-ups (target-absent and target-present) with 6 photographs each, where 2 types of instructions (neutral vs specific, between-subject design) and 2 presentation formats (simultaneous vs sequential, within-subject design) for the line-up photographs were used. Each subject completed 4 trials. The results showed that, generally speaking, people with intellectual disability were capable of distinguishing the face of a person previously seen under all these conditions. There was a significantly higher incidence of false alarms, however, when the photographs were presented sequentially and when specific instructions were not given. With specific instructions designed to lessen the social desirability effect and increase motivation for the task, false alarms on the target-absent line-up were reduced. The results were discussed with a view to their applicability in legal and law enforcement contexts., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

The Psychology of Testimony has experienced extraordinary growth in recent decades, but its origins go back more than one hundred years. In this paper, the main milestones that have marked the development of the Psychology of Testimony as a discipline with its own identity in North America and Europe are reviewed. The advancement of scientific psychology, with different paradigm shifts, as well as the shattered relations with the law and social progress in human rights have marked its history. Thus, promising beginnings in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries took place, followed by a time of crisis around the forties and fifties, as a result of the Second World War and the abandonment of the studies on memory by the prevailing research paradigm. Cognitive Psychology and increased demand for psychologists in the administration of justice marked his rebirth in the seventies of the twentieth century. [RESUMEN]En el presente trabajo se recogen los principales hitos que han marcado a lo largo de más de cien años el desarrollo de la Psicología del Testimonio como una disciplina con entidad propia. El avance de la Psicología científica, con los diferentes cambios de paradigma, así como las maltrechas relaciones con el derecho y los avances sociales en derechos humanos han marcado su historia. Así, podemos hablar de un prometedor nacimiento a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, seguido de una época de crisis en torno a los años cuarenta y cincuenta, como consecuencia de la II Guerra Mundial y del abandono de los estudios sobre la memoria por el paradigma de investigación imperante. La Psicología cognitiva y el incremento de la demanda de psicólogos en la administración de justicia supuso su renacimiento., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

En el presente trabajo se revisa la principal legislación sobre la anticipación de la prueba testifical para menores supuestas víctimas de delitos sexuales, y se presenta un protocolo para su óptimo desarrollo, considerando los conocimientos procedentes de la Psicología del Testimonio y de la Psicología de la Victimización Criminal, además de la experiencia práctica de psicólogos criminalistas y forenses. La prueba preconstituida es una fórmula jurídica que en los casos de supuesto abuso sexual infantil tiene dos objetivos fundamentales: a) proteger el testimonio del menor (indicio cognitivo) del deterioro derivado de múltiples e inadecuados abordajes de éste, y b) evitar la re-victimización del menor por su paso por el procedimiento penal. [ABSTRACT] This paper reviews the main legislation for the anticipation of the testimony for alleged child victims of sexual offenses. In this frame a protocol for development preconstituted evidence is presented based on the knowledge from the Psychology of Testimony and the Psychology of Criminal Victimization in addition to the practical experience of criminologists and forensic psychologists. The preconstituted evidence is a legal formula that in cases of alleged child sexual abuse has two main objectives: a) to protect the child's testimony (cognitive evidence) of the subsequent deterioration of multiple and inappropriate interventions, b) avoid revictimization of the child due on its way through the policial and judicial processes., Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

This study aimed to determine the extent to which Reality Moni-toring (RM) content analysis can provide useful information when discrim-inating between actual versus false statements. Participants were instructed to either describe a traffic accident as eyewitness actual role or to describe the accident as a simulated victim. Data were analysed in terms of accuracy and quality, and were represented using high dimensional visualization (HDV). In Experiment 1 (between-participant design), participants made significantly more references to cognitive operations, more self-references and less changes in order when describing the event as simulated victim. In Experiment 2 (within-participants design) participants also made signifi-cantly more references to cognitive operations and more self references when describing the event from the simulated victim as well as being less accurate, providing less irrelevant information and more evaluative com-ments. HDV graphics indicated that false statements differ holistically from actual ones., El objetivo del presente estudio consistió en determinar si los procedimientos de análisis de contenido basados en las propuestas de Reality Monitoring (RM) pueden aportar información útil para discriminar entre declaraciones verdaderas y falsas. Se pidió a los participantes que describieran un accidente de tráfico desde su papel real de testigo o que lo describieran simulando ser la víctima. Los datos se analizaron en función de la exactitud y calidad de los relatos, y se representaron gráficamente mediante Visualización Hiperdimensional (HDV). En el experimento 1 (inter-sujetos) los relatos de las víctimas simuladas contenían más alusiones a procesos cognitivos, más auto-referencias y menos cambios de orden. En el experimento 2 (intra-sujetos) los relatos de las víctimas simuladas también contenían más alusiones a procesos cognitivos y más auto-referencias, pero además fueron menos exactos y aportaron menos información irrelevante y más juicios y comentarios personales. Los gráficos HDV indican que los relatos falsos difieren holísticamente de los reales, Depto. de Psicología Experimental, Procesos Cognitivos y Logopedia, Fac. de Psicología, TRUE, pub

The purpose of the article is to analyze the oral history collection of the Holocaust sources at the Yahad-In Unum scientific institution (Paris, France) on the example of the Nazi-occupied territories of the Volhynia-Podolia General District of Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism and scientific objectivity. Analysis of oral history sources is the main method of the research. Scientific novelty: For the first time in historiography, the oral history Holocaust sources of the Yahad-In Unum scientific institution were analyzed based on the example of the Volhynia-Podolia General District. The conclusions prove that the oral history sources of Yahad-In Unum have powerful potential for Holocaust studies. They have exclusive information that is not found in other sources. German and Soviet documents cannot fully shed light on Holocaust history. Instead, the stories of witnesses provide an opportunity to examine this topic in a multifaceted way., Celem artykułu jest analiza zbioru źródeł historii mówionej o Holokauście z terenów okupowanych przez hitlerowców Okręgu Generalnego „Wołyń-Podole”, Komisariatu Rzeszy Ukraina, opublikowanych przez „Yahad-In Unum”, instytucję naukową znajdującą się w Paryżu, we Francji. Metodologia badań opiera się na zasadach historyzmu. Po raz pierwszy w historiografii przeanalizowano źródła historii mówionej o Holokauście, znajdujące się w „Yahad-In Unum”, zebrane z terytorium Okręgu Generalnego „Wołyń-Podole”. We Wnioskach wyjaśniono, że źródła historii mówionej „Yahad-In Unum” mają ogromny potencjał do badań nad Holokaustem. Posiadają wyjątkowe informacje, których nie można znaleźć w innych źródłach. Dokumenty niemieckie oraz sowieckie nie mogą w pełni określić procesu Holokaustu. Natomiast relacje świadków dają możliwości wszechstronnego wyjaśnienia tego tematu.