Oral Presentation: Sketching Routes to Elicit Information and Cues to Deceit

Title: Sketching Routes to Elicit Information and Cues to Deceit

 Abstract:

Investigative practitioners are increasingly using sketching whilst narrating in investigative and intelligence-gathering interviews. The technique involves suspects describing the target event while sketching on a blank paper (self-generated sketch with narration) or on a printed map of the target location (printed map with narration). In the current experiment, we compared self-generated sketches and printed maps to understand their effect on information elicitation and deception detection. Participants carried out a mock mission near the department of psychology and were then instructed to tell the truth or to lie about the mission in an interview. The interviews were conducted online via Skype. In the first phase of the interview, all participants provided a free verbal recall. In the second phase, participants provided another free verbal recall or verbally described the mission while sketching either on a blank paper or on a printed map. Preliminary analysis with data collected so far (N = 161) shows that the self-generated sketch and the free verbal recall elicited more veracity differences than the printed map. This suggests that in interviews where information on routes and locations is needed, asking suspects to generate a sketch may be more effective than presenting them with a printed map.