The impact of physical and mental reinstatement of context on the identifiability of facial composites by Cristina Fodarella A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire July 2020 !i ! STUDENT DECLARATION FORM Concurrent registration for two or more academic awards *I declare that while registered for the research degree, I was with the University’s specific permission, a registered candidate for the following award: ‘Associate Fellow of The Higher Education Academy’ Material submitted for another award *I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work Collaboration Where a candidate’s research programme is part of a collaborative project, the thesis must indicate in addition clearly the candidate’s individual contribution and the extent of the collaboration. Please state below: *Not applicable Signature of Candidate Type of Award Doctor of Philosophy School Psychology !ii Abstract Numerous studies demonstrate that memory recall is improved by reflecting upon, or revisiting, the environment in which information to-be-recalled was encoded. The current thesis sought to apply these ‘context reinstatement’ (CR) techniques in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of facial composites—likenesses of perpetrators constructed by witnesses and victims of crime. Participant- constructors were shown an unfamiliar target face in an unfamiliar environment (e.g., an unknown café). The following day, participants either revisited the environment (physical context reinstatement) or recalled the environmental context in detail along with their psychological state at the time (mental context reinstatement, Detailed CR); they then freely recalled the face and constructed a facial composite using a holistic (EvoFIT) or a feature system (PRO-fit). Over the course of five experiments and meta-analyses, Detailed CR of the environmental context was effective at increasing correct naming and likeness ratings of ensuing composites. The size of the advantage for Detailed CR was dependent on the extent to which the environment had been encoded: the advantage was (i) variable for incidental encoding (Experiments 1-3) with an overall small effect size (ES) (assessed by meta-analysis), (ii) best (very large ES) under intentional encoding (Experiment 3) and (iii) intermediate (large ES) for incidental encoding when participants were encouraged to engage naturally with the environment (Experiment 4). Detailed CR was also found to be effective when combined with a specific interviewing technique (Holistic-Cognitive Interview) where constructors focused on the target’s character; it was no more effective when constructors were prompted to recall the environment in greater detail. Further analyses (Meta-analyses) and additional data (Experiment 5) indicate that the advantage of Detailed CR was !iii mediated by an increase in constructor’s total face recall. Results are interpreted in terms of the encoding specificity principle and can be applied by forensic practitioners who use feature and recognition systems.. This thesis is the first to reveal that context cues can be implemented effectively during forensic face construction using modern composite systems. !iv Table of contents Student declaration form ii Abstract iii List of tables and figures vii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations x CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1 General Introduction 1 Introduction to context reinstatement effects 2 Verbal memory 3 Outshining hypothesis 6 Cue overload/fan effect 6 Overshadowing hypothesis 7 Recognition memory 9 Eyewitness memory 12 Facial memory 18 Factors mediating CR effects on facial memory 25 Alternative uses of the MCR technique in facial memory research 30 Facial composites 32 Overview of facial composite systems 32 Methodology in facial composite research 39 Techniques for improving composite quality 41 Improving facial composites using CR 47 Detailed procedures of composite systems used in the thesis 50 Feature system: PRO-fit 50 Holistic system: EvoFIT 52 Face-to-face construction procedure 52 Self-administered construction procedure 55 !v CHAPTER 2: THESIS EXPERIMENTS WRITTEN UP 57 AND SUBMITTED AS A RESEARCH PAPER General Introduction 57 Research paper 58 Abstract 58 Introduction 59 Experiment 1 65 Experiment 2 81 Experiment 3 90 Meta-analyses and additional assessments 99 Experiment 4 107 Experiment 5 112 General Discussion 117 References 125 CHAPTER 3: GENERAL DISCUSSION 136 Using context cues to facilitate composite identifiability 137 Combining CR with further interviewing mnemonics 150 Differences between composite systems 154 Future experiments 156 Conclusion 159 REFERENCES 161 APPENDIX 1: SUPPLEMENTARY EXPERIMENT 196 !vi List of tables and figures CHAPTER 1 Figure 1. Example PRO-fit screen showing a full face that can be 51 altered by selecting alternative individual facial features. Figure 2. Example EvoFIT screen showing arrays of 18 internal-only 53 faces, here without texture. Figure 3. Example EvoFIT online screen showing internal-only faces, 56 along with instructions. CHAPTER 2 Figure 1. Example EvoFITs (top row) and PRO-fits (bottom row) 72 Table 1. Percentage of EvoFIT and PRO-fit composites correctly 75 named by Context Reinstatement Table 2. Mean likeness ratings (SD) for EvoFIT and PRO-fit 78 composites by Context Reinstatement Table 3. Percentage of EvoFIT and PRO-fit composites correctly 85 named by Context Reinstatement and Interview Table 4. EvoFIT and PRO-fit mean composite rating (SD) by 87 Context Reinstatement and Interview type Table 5. Percentage of EvoFIT composites correctly named by 94 Context Reinstatement and Attention Table 6. EvoFIT mean composite rating (SD) by Context 96 Reinstatement and Attention type Table 7. Summary of comparisons included in the meta-analyses: 101 correct naming (by-participants) between Detailed and Minimal CR !vii Table 8. Mean (and SD) face recall and Cohen’s d by CR 104 across experiments Table 9. Percentage of EvoFIT composites correctly named by 110 Context Reinstatement and by Face construction Table 10. Percentage of EvoFITs correctly named by Context 116 Reinstatement, Face Construction and Method of composite naming APPENDIX 1 Table 1. Percentage of EvoFIT and PRO-fit composites correctly 199 named by Context Reinstatement and Interview type Table 2. EvoFIT and PRO-fit mean composite rating (SD) by Context 200 Reinstatement and Interview type !viii Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my Director of Studies, Charlie Frowd, for all of his expertise, support and guidance—not only during my Ph.D but also during the many, many years leading up to it. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would be where I am now—not least because he has sparked my excitement for facial composites during my 2nd year of undergraduate studies. He has become not only a great colleague and role model to me, but also a remarkable friend. Thank you! I am also deeply grateful for all of the advice, insight and collaboration from the rest of my supervisory team: John Marsh and Simon Chu as well as (my ‘old’ team) Palwinder Athwal-Kooner and Rachel Wilcock. A special thanks to John who has been a great friend to me throughout, always caring and encouraging. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Jackson and Ellena Wood for having collected some excellent data for my thesis. Thank-you also to Faye Skelton and Helen Jones for their invaluable input into improving the research paper that is now Chapter 2. UCLan has always been an amazing place to have both studied and worked in, and deserves a special acknowledgement. It is not only full of lovely colleagues, but I have also made many friends along the way. A special thank-you to Rachel Thorley (Dr Joyce!), whose Ph.D journey started and ended about the same time as my own: you’ve become a close friend to me—thanks for being you! Not many people would be able to complete a Ph.D thesis without the support from friends and family outside of academia—I would like to thank all of mine (too little space to name all!). A special thanks goes to my sister Angela, who is one of the most important people in my life: a wonderful person and my best friend. I am also deeply grateful to my partner (and best friend) Ben, who has not only helped by proof-reading my chapters and acting as a second coder for some of my stats, but also by keeping me sane, loved and happy during the process (…and well fed!). I’d like to thank my aunt Andrea and uncle Franco for their on-going love, interest, and support, as well as those amazing Spa trips that helped me re-energise—thank you! Last but not least, I owe special thanks to Lady P who—by purring and falling asleep on my lap—has helped me be more productive during my many, many hours of writing. In loving memory of Mama, Papa and Nonna. !ix Abbreviations ASD Autism Spectrum Disorder CI Cognitive Interview CR Context Reinstatement DV Dependent Variable ES Effect size FM Focused meditation GEE Generalised Estimating Equations H-CI Holistic-Cognitive Interview ICE Item, context and ensemble information IQR Inter-quartile range M Mean MCR Mental Context Reinstatement MD Mean difference PCR Physical Context Reinstatement SD Standard Deviation SE Standard Error TAP Transfer-appropriate processing TV Television UCLan University of Central Lancashire UK United Kingdom UOI Unit of information US United States !x 1 LITERATURE REVIEW General introduction The current chapter will first provide an overview of the literature and theories re- garding context reinstatement (CR) effects; that is, a technique to facilitate memory recall which uses the physical or a mentally-visualised environment, that was present during time of encoding. The review will focus more-specifically on CR effects on verbal, eyewitness and facial memory. CR effects on facial memory will be reviewed more-intensely as it is more-closely related to research of the current thesis.