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In response to the crisis of confidence in psychology, a plethora of solutions have been proposed to improve the way research is conducted (e.g., increasing statistical power, focusing on confidence intervals, enhancing the disclosure of methods). One area that has received little attention is the reliability of data. We note that while it is well understood that reliability of measures is essential to replicability, there is a failure to apply some measure of data reliability consistently, or to correct for chance when assessing agreement. We discuss the problem of relying on Percent Agreement between observers as a measure of reliability and describe a dilemma that researchers encounter when assessing contradictory indicators of reliability. We conclude with some pedagogical strategies that might make the need for reliability measures and chance correction more likely to be understood and implemented. By so doing, researchers can contribute to solving some aspects of the crisis of confidence in psychological research.

The effectiveness of a sketch procedure for enhancing the recall of a live interactive event was assessed. Participants (N = 88) engaged in an interaction with a confederate, were administered a sketch, mental reinstatement of context (MRC), or control procedure and then asked to recall the experienced event. Results showed that participants who were administered a sketch procedure recalled more correct details than those administered an MRC or control procedure (d = 0.55 and d = 1.31, respectively). The increased recall was seen primarily for action and object details, with little difference between procedures for recall of person and verbal details. In addition, the effect of interview procedure on the number of incorrect details recalled was nonsignificant. The utility of the sketch procedure for investigative interviewing is discussed.

Judges are the gatekeepers of evidence in the justice system. Granted that witness testimony is pivotal to the truth-seeking function of the criminal justice system, and that judges sometimes intervene and ask questions in the courtroom to help ensure the testimony is accurate, little is known about judges' questioning practices. In the current study, we examine the questioning practices of a sample of Canadian judges. A total of 3,140 utterances spoken by 15 different judges across 22 criminal cases (169 witness examinations) were classified as one of 13 utterance types, and assessed as a function of examination type; utterance and response lengths were also calculated. Results showed that, when talking to witnesses directly, most of the questions asked were clarification (37%), followed by facilitators (17%), and closed yes/no (10%); less than 1% of all question types were open-ended. The longest answers were provided in response to open-ended questions. We also found that closed yes/no questions were the most frequently used question types during judge-led lines of questioning (i.e. examinations per curium), as opposed to lawyer-led lines of questioning (i.e. during direct and cross examinations). Implications for the truth-seeking function of the justice system are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recall of an episodic narrative, as a function of presentation modality (audio-visual sketch, audio-only), was examined across three cumulative experiments. Experiment 1: participants (N = 84) were asked to recall a narrative delivered via audio, or audio accompanied by a sketch. Experiment 2: participants (N = 116) were asked to recall a narrative delivered via sketch or audio-only format, both of which varied in duration/number of details to recall. Experiment 3: participants (N = 173) recalled a narrative that varied by modality (audio-only, non-concurrent sketch, hybrid sketch, concurrent sketch) and access/no access to the sketch during recall. Aggregating the data across the three experiments (mini meta-analysis) revealed that participants provided with sketch-based narratives recalled more information and had higher recall accuracy (Md = 0.80 [95% CI = 0.56, 1.04], Z = 6.51, p < 0.001) than those provided with audio-only narratives. The results also revealed that concurrent sketches led to the best recall of a narrative, and having access to the sketch during recall had minimal impact on recall. The potential implications of the results for recalling information in various contexts are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the extent to which presenting youth interrogation rights using different combinations of three multimedia elements (Animation, Audio, and Caption) improved comprehension. A 2 (Animation: Present, Absent) × 2 (Audio: Present, Absent) × 2 (Caption: Present, Absent) between-participants design was employed using samples of adults (Experiment 1: N = 207) and youth (Experiment 2: N = 193). Participants in both experiments were shown one of eight multimedia presentations and asked about their understanding of the presented youth interrogation rights. In both experiments, the multimedia presentation that contained animation and caption led to the highest level of comprehension. Implications of these findings for protecting youth and the use of technology during interrogations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

READING THE CLAIMS OF CRIMINAL PROFILERS and watching popular television programs like Criminal Minds can leave one with the impression that Criminal Profiling (CP)--the task of inferring demographic and personality [...]

This study examined whether people adhered to the recognition heuristic (i.e., inferred that a recognized hockey player had more total career points than an unrecognized player) and whether using this heuristic could yield accurate decisions. On paired comparisons, having participants report whether they recognized each player plus any knowledge they had about each player permitted players to be classified as either unrecognized (UR), merely recognized (MR), or recognized with additional knowledge (RK), thus producing six possible trial types. Participants adhered to the recognition heuristic on 95% of MR-UR trials and were accurate on 81% of those trials. They chose the recognized player on 98% of RK-UR trials, yielding 94% accuracy. Women had less knowledge and recognized fewer players than men, yet they were nearly as accurate as men. Future research should examine the conditions under which the recognition heuristic is an adaptive strategy.

The current study is the first phase of a larger evaluation of the Vermont State Police (VSP) PEACE Model interview training program. This evaluation measures the impact of the program on trainees' interviewing knowledge and attitudes, and opinions about the program. VSP Members participating in Tier 1 (N = 72) and Tier 2 (N = 46) PEACE interview training completed a questionnaire, both before and after training, about (1) their knowledge of interviewing and related concepts, (2) their attitudes about various interviewing practices, and (3) their beliefs about the training session. Results showed that training had a large effect on knowledge for participants in both training courses. As well, a majority of Tier 1 and Tier 2 trainees reported attitudes in line with scientific consensus after training. Specifically, most items related to eyewitness testimony, memory, and coercion were endorsed post-training by the majority of officers, while items covering deception detection and interrogation rights were endorsed less frequently. Additionally, trainees reported that their training experience was quite positive. Implications for the program and future directions for training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]