Context Reinstatement Report Everything Recall from a Change

Context Reinstatement

Report Everything

Recall from a Change Perspective

Recall in Reverse Order

Try to return to both the environmental (place, weather) and the emotional context (e. g. , your feelings) of the scene of the crime. If this cannot be physically carried out, witnesses would be asked, ‘can you describe the context/environment in which the crime took place in? ’ ‘How did you feel during the event? ’

This provides retrieval cues to help the eyewitness access their memory of the event.

Recall the maximum amount of information, even if it appears to have little relevance, appears trivial or is accorded a lower level of confidence. ‘Recall as much as you can remember about the event starting at the beginning and working your way through to the end. ’

This is because what might seem irrelevant to the eyewitness may actually be of importance to the investigation and also, irrelevant details may serve as retrieval cues to help prompt more relevant details to be recalled.

Try to recount the scene from a different perspective, for example, by telling it from the point of view of another person who was involved. ‘Please can you recall the event from the witness who was facing you point of view. ’

This is done because psychological research has shown memories can be retrieved through a number of different routes and therefore it is more productive to vary these access routes during questioning.

Try to recount the scene in a different chronological order – for example, from the end to the beginning. ‘please recall the event in as much detail you can, in reverse order, starting at the end and finishing at the beginning of the event. ’

Again, this is to try and retrieve memories via a number of different routes to increase accuracy and detail of recall.