Drawing and dramatization in forensic settings : external and internal prompts in children's and adults' eyewitness testimony

This thesis explored the effects of drawing and dramatization as well as the intersection between temperament, symbolic skills, language ability, mood, and various interview methods (drawing, dramatization, verbal-only) in children’s and adults’ verbal recall of a salient event. Studies One and Two examined whether drawing and dramatization facilitate 3- to 6- year olds’ verbal recall, after delays of one day, two weeks, and six months. Study Three looked the content of the drawings the children produced and how it changes over time. Study Four investigated whether drawings (own drawing or another’s drawing) can act as memory aids for a video event after a two-week delay. Study Five explored the effects of drawing on adults’ memory of a live event, after an immediate, a two-week, and a three-month delay. In all studies, measures of internal characteristics were taken, and their intersection with different interview methods was examined. The findings suggest that drawing while narrating enhances children’s recall about objects within a two-week time frame. Drawing does not have an effect on adults’ recall. Children consistently depict the more general features of an event, whereas information regarding ‘the perpetrator’ and ‘victim’ dissipates from drawings as time elapses. Drawings per se may not act as memory cues for a past event, as children may use them to identify the depicted features rather than link back to the event. Importantly, the intersection between different interview methods and children’s and adults’ individual differences may affect their reports. Temperamental traits, language skills, and symbolic ability interrelate with a verbal-only, a drawing, and a dramatization interview to either facilitate or compromise verbal reports. Given these findings, forensic officials are advised to take eyewitnesses’ individual characteristics into account and try to adapt investigative interviews to their needs, to facilitate their eyewitness testimony.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Ph.D.

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Lancaster University

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Authors dc:creator

• Iordanou, Christiana
• Allen, Melissa
• Warmelink, Lara