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Telling a good story: The effects of memory retrieval and context processing on eyewitness suggestibility.

ABSTRACT: Witnesses are likely to describe a crime many times before testifying or encountering misinformation about that crime. Research examining the effect of retrieval on later suggestibility has yielded mixed results. LaPaglia and Chan manipulated whether misinformation was presented in a narrative or misleading questions, and they found that retrieval increased suggestibility when misinformation was presented in a narrative, but reduced suggestibility when the same misinformation was presented in questions. In the current study, we aimed to address why these differences occurred. Specifically, we examined whether contextual detail and narrative coherence during misinformation exposure influenced the relation between retrieval and suggestibility. Participants watched a robbery video and some were questioned about the event afterwards. They were then exposed to misinformation presented in a narrative (Experiment 1) or questions (Experiment 2) before taking a final memory test. Testing enhanced suggestibility when the misinformation phase reinstated contextual information of the event, but not when the misinformation phase included few contextual details-regardless of whether the misinformation was in a narrative or questions. In Experiment 3, disrupting narrative coherence by randomizing the order of contextual information eliminated retrieval-enhanced suggestibility. Therefore, context processing during the post-event information phase influences whether retrieval enhances or reduces eyewitness suggestibility.

SUBMITTER: LaPaglia JA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6383884 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine differences in episodic memory retrieval between individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) individuals. Previous studies have shown that personality similarities between readers and characters facilitated reading comprehension. Highly extraverted participants read stories featuring extraverted protagonists more easily and judged the outcomes of such stories more rapidly than did less extraverted participants. Similarly, highly neurotic participants judged the outcomes of stories with neurotic protagonists more rapidly than did participants with low levels of neuroticism. However, the impact of the similarity effect on memory retrieval remains unclear. This study tested our 'similarity hypothesis', namely that memory retrieval is enhanced when readers with ASD and TD readers read stories featuring protagonists with ASD and with characteristics associated with TD individuals, respectively. METHODS: Eighteen Japanese individuals (one female) with high-functioning ASD (aged 17 to 40 years) and 17 age- and intelligence quotient (IQ)-matched Japanese (one female) TD participants (aged 22 to 40 years) read 24 stories; 12 stories featured protagonists with ASD characteristics, and the other 12 featured TD protagonists. Participants read a single sentence at a time and pressed a spacebar to advance to the next sentence. After reading all 24 stories, they were asked to complete a recognition task about the target sentence in each story. RESULTS: To investigate episodic memory in ASD, we analyzed encoding based on the reading times for and readability of the stories and retrieval processes based on the accuracy of and response times for sentence recognition. Although the results showed no differences between ASD and TD groups in encoding processes, they did reveal inter-group differences in memory retrieval. Although individuals with ASD demonstrated the same level of accuracy as did TD individuals, their patterns of memory retrieval differed with respect to response times. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with ASD more effectively retrieved ASD-congruent than ASD-incongruent sentences, and TD individuals retrieved stories with TD more effectively than stories with ASD protagonists. Thus, similarity between reader and story character had different effects on memory retrieval in the ASD and TD groups.

Project description:IntroductionFemale adolescents living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus are a unique population facing lifelong challenges in reproductive and sexual health ranging from relational, social and legal-ethical considerations. While HIV prevalence of young females is higher than the males (4.9% versus 1%), evidence show that these adolescents in Malawi initiate sex as early as 15 years mostly with adult partners. Yet, young people are frequently reported to be reluctant to discuss sexual matters and demonstrate avoidance of direct questions on sexual issues during interviews. It is critical therefore that researchers invoke youth-friendly approaches to address these complex issues and enable these vulnerable individuals to articulate and advocate for their preferred futures.MethodsThis study used an innovative visual qualitative approach known as 'my story' book which combined image selection and sentence completion exercises to enable adolescents living with HIV to share their stories through interviews. The study involved 14 cases comprising of 14 female adolescents aged 15 to 19, 14 caregivers and 14 health providers working at HIV multidisciplinary centres in Malawi.ResultsThe 'my story' book enabled in-depth exploration of the experiences and issues faced by this vulnerable population. The use of images and sentence completion exercise enabled the researcher to appreciate the type of interactions (or lack of) on sexual issues and status disclosure to significant others including sexual partners. Three themes were revealed, included creating meanings, revealing confirmatory and/or complementary evidence and enabling intergenerational research.ConclusionsThe 'my story' book captured the life experiences and needs of the female adolescents. The book assisted the participants in constructing, communicating, and controlling the articulation of their stories. It positioned female adolescents as a diverse group of social agents able to construct and reflect on their social worlds and real-life issues. This approach was highly effective in creating a youth-friendly context for reflection and revelation regarding sensitive cultural and social issues faced by this group. As such, the 'my story' book could be used in one-on-one counselling or provide data to inform intervention development.

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Telling a good story: The effects of memory retrieval and context processing on eyewitness suggestibility.

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