Abstract
Testing our beliefs about memory for crimes with participants who have memories for crimes is an essential component of research that is meant to be applied outside of the laboratory (e.g., Yuille, Ternes, & Cooper, 2010). This is a challenge, not just because it is difficult to locate and recruit participants with memories for crimes, but because the research is messy: often there is no control group, base truth is not known, and random assignment is impossible (see Paz-Alonso, Ogle, & Goodman, this volume). Notwithstanding these difficulties, applied work is essential if we are to have an impact (see Yuille, present volume). In this spirit, we describe a study in which a woman who reported having been a victim of five armed bank robberies in Montreal, Canada in the 1970s and who recalled the experiences on three separate occasions. First, we explain why this work was undertaken.
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Notes
- 1.
Brewer and Burke (2002) found that confidence mediated the relationship between inconsistencies and perceived credibility such that inconsistencies in a very high- or very low-confident witness had no effect on perceived credibility. However, we were not concerned with extreme levels of witness confidence in this chapter but conclude that inconsistencies are an important predictor of perceived credibility.
- 2.
There is an extensive literature on repeated reports of Flashbulb Memories - memory for one’s personal circumstances when learning of a shocking event. We do not review that literature here because it is unlikely to be the subject of forensic investigation. In addition, Pezdek (2003) argued that memory for details of a shocking event and one’s personal circumstances of learning of the shocking event may be experienced and processed differently.
- 3.
We cite research involving child samples because, as just discussed, there is a paucity of research on adults’ memories of instances of repeated events.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a SSHRC operating grant to the first author and an NSERC PGS-D grant to the second author. We extend a special thanks to “Beth” who spent hours with us describing her experiences.
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Appendix: Abbreviated Description of Robbery 3 Across Three Interviews
Appendix: Abbreviated Description of Robbery 3 Across Three Interviews
Interview 1. The bank thought it would be a good idea to have armed guards in the bank. At the beginning of this Robbery, a totally unmasked robber entered the bank and shot the guard.
When the robbers arrived, I jumped down three stairs. I remember saying “Everyone get down.” The hardware store clerk who was in the bank at the time said that, when he was told to hit the floor, he did and all he remembers is the smell of the wax. A few days later, when he saw me in the hardware store, he kissed me and hugged me and told me how brave I was. On their way out, they sprayed the back of the bank with bullets. When we closed the doors, one customer broke open the liquor that he had just bought. It was 2 pm when everything was over. We told head office that we could not reopen, but when they said they would send in another team, we decided it would be too much trouble and we returned to work. After this one, I bought my husband skis with the danger pay. Later, when my husband and I were skiing, I saw a man with a mask on and I screamed and passed out (Transcripts).
Interview 2. We were short staffed that day. There was a bad snowstorm and I had to call in a teller who was very pregnant. Just when she arrived, the robbers burst in. Just after the robbers entered the bank, a teller was frantically and obviously trying to find her alarm button. I pulled the pregnant teller under the desk and tried to comfort her but she was screaming. The robber put a gun to our face and said “I told you to shut her up.” That is when she yelled back at him and he left. With a gun, one of the robbers took a teller to the back of the bank to open the vault. She could never remember her combination and so we were convinced that we were all dead. Well, she remembered and had the vault open in no time. I remember helping others in the bank, getting them off the floor. Later, when my husband and I were skiing, I saw a man with a mask on and I screamed and passed out (Transcripts).
Interview 3. The bank thought it would be a good idea to have armed guards in the bank. There was a bad snowstorm and I had to call in a teller who was very pregnant. Just when she arrived, the robbers burst in. At the beginning of this Robbery, a totally unmasked robber entered the bank and shot the guard. Just after the robbers entered the bank, a teller was frantically and obviously trying to find her alarm button. When the alarm was activated, you could hear the video recorder come on. I pulled the pregnant teller under the desk and tried to comfort her but she was screaming. The robber put a gun to our face and said “I told you to shut her up.” That is when she yelled back at him and he left. After this one, I bought my husband skis with the danger pay. Later, when my husband and I were skiing, I saw a man with a mask on and I screamed and passed out (Transcripts).
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Connolly, D.A., Price, H.L. (2013). Repeated Interviews About Repeated Trauma from the Distant Past: A Study of Report Consistency. In: Cooper, B., Griesel, D., Ternes, M. (eds) Applied Issues in Investigative Interviewing, Eyewitness Memory, and Credibility Assessment. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5547-9_8
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