Eyewitness testimony by adults with autism spectrum disorder

患有自闭症谱系障碍的成年人的目击证词

• 批准号: ES/J003379/1
• 负责人: Katie Maras
• 金额: $ 10.69万
• 依托单位: Royal Holloway University of London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FJ003379%2F1
• 关键词: Eyewitness; testimony; adults; autism; spectrum

Eyewitness testimony is central to the Criminal Justice System (CJS), and this often includes the testimony of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A number of risk factors suggest that people with ASD are at greater danger of victimisation, meaning that their 1% prevalence in the general population is likely to be over-inflated in the CJS. In addition to this, they have well-documented memory difficulties, yet scarcely any research has examined how they fare as eyewitnesses. My PhD research explored this issue. I examined the effectiveness of one of the most widely accepted police interviewing techniques, the Cognitive Interview (CI), for use with adults with ASD. One of the main components of the CI, context reinstatement, encourages the witness to relive the event mentally by focusing on contextual details such as the sights, sounds, smells etc. I found that the CI failed to aid the recall of witnesses with ASD, and actually reduced their accuracy. My subsequent work suggests that it is the mental time travel required by context reinstatement that individuals with ASD find difficult: when they were physically back in the same room in which the event was witnessed, their recall improved. These findings have important implications for investigative interviewing procedures with witnesses with ASD. In the fellowship year I intend to re-examine these findings from a different perspective. The coding system used in my PhD work coded details as correct or incorrect, but did not explicitly examine whether these details were reported in the correct order. This is essential if police investigators are to understand the chain of events as they unfolded, and could mean the difference between whether the chief suspect left the scene before or after the attack was carried out. Therefore the first aim of the proposed work is to examine how well individuals with ASD recall the chronological order of events details; previous research suggests that they have difficulty with this. However if this is the case, there may be appropriate supportive interview strategies which can help - an area which subsequent research proposals developed during the fellowship would address. Secondly, in my PhD work, none of the to-be-remembered events were ones in which the witness was an active participant. Previous work suggests that individuals with ASD find it harder to recall events in which they were actively engaged then events which they passively observed. Again if this is the case it has immediate forensic implications, and would provide a focus for more substantial funding applications to develop appropriate supportive interviewing strategies.This work will constitute two papers. During this fellowship year I intend to publish a third paper reviewing research on eyewitness testimony in ASD. This is very novel work and a review paper would disseminate findings further and generate new interest. The fellowship year would also enable me to develop both new research skills and proposals which would establish a more substantial program of work in the area, including the development of effective interview strategies, which in the case of context reinstatement might involve more supported procedures such as revisiting the scene where the event was witnessed or using photographs as a context aid. I would also like to extend my current work to the wider autism spectrum from high-functioning adults to children and those with intellectual impairment. This work should be of interest to a wide audience, from individuals with ASD themselves, the police and other legal officials, policy makers, and academics. Findings may also have implications for the educational sector in terms of effective learning strategies in school. The fellowship will allow me the opportunity I need to improve my publication track record and apply for longer-term funding which I hope will allow me to develop an academic career in this important but under-researched area.

目击者证词是刑事司法系统（CJS）的核心，这通常包括自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者的证词。许多风险因素表明，ASD患者的患病风险更大，这意味着他们在一般人群中的1%患病率可能会在CJS中过度膨胀。除此之外，他们有很好的记录记忆困难，但几乎没有任何研究调查他们作为目击者的表现。我的博士研究探讨了这个问题。我研究了最广泛接受的警察面试技术之一，认知面试（CI）的有效性，用于成人ASD。CI的主要组成部分之一，上下文恢复，鼓励证人重温事件的精神，通过专注于上下文的细节，如景象，声音，气味等，我发现CI未能帮助回忆的证人与ASD，实际上降低了他们的准确性。我随后的工作表明，自闭症患者发现困难的是情境恢复所需的心理时间旅行：当他们身体回到目睹事件的同一个房间时，他们的回忆有所改善。这些发现对ASD证人的调查访谈程序具有重要意义。在研究员年，我打算从不同的角度重新审视这些发现。我在博士论文中使用的编码系统将细节编码为正确或不正确，但没有明确检查这些细节是否以正确的顺序报告。如果警方调查人员要了解事件的发展过程，这一点至关重要，这可能意味着主要嫌疑人是在袭击发生之前还是之后离开现场。因此，这项工作的第一个目的是研究ASD患者回忆事件细节的时间顺序的能力;以前的研究表明，他们在这方面有困难。然而，如果是这种情况下，可能有适当的支持性采访策略，可以帮助-一个领域，随后的研究计划期间开发的奖学金将解决。第二，在我的博士论文中，没有一个值得记住的事件是目击者积极参与的。以前的研究表明，ASD患者发现他们更难回忆起他们积极参与的事件，而不是他们被动观察的事件。同样，如果是这种情况下，它有直接的法医影响，并将提供一个重点，为更多的实质性资金申请，以制定适当的支持性访谈战略。在这个奖学金年度，我打算发表第三篇论文，回顾ASD目击者证词的研究。这是一项非常新颖的工作，一份审查文件将进一步传播调查结果，并引起新的兴趣。奖学金年也将使我能够开发新的研究技能和建议，这将建立一个更实质性的工作计划在该地区，包括有效的采访策略的发展，这在上下文恢复的情况下可能涉及更多的支持程序，如重访现场的事件被目睹或使用照片作为上下文援助。我还想将我目前的工作扩展到更广泛的自闭症谱系，从高功能成人到儿童和智力障碍者。这项工作应该引起广大受众的兴趣，包括ASD患者、警察和其他法律的官员、政策制定者和学者。研究结果也可能对教育部门在学校有效的学习策略方面产生影响。奖学金将使我有机会改善我的出版记录，并申请长期资助，我希望这将使我能够在这个重要但研究不足的领域发展学术事业。

项目成果

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Self-Administered Interview © for Witnesses with Autism Spectrum Disorder

评估自闭症谱系障碍证人自我访谈的有效性©

• DOI: 10.1002/acp.3055
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Applied Cognitive Psychology
• 影响因子: 2.4
• 作者: Maras K

Mental imagery scanning in autism spectrum disorder

自闭症谱系障碍的心理意象扫描

• DOI: 10.1016/j.rasd.2014.07.003
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Maras K

Eyewitness testimony in autism spectrum disorder: a review.

自闭症谱系障碍的目击者证词：回顾。

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-012-1502-3
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Journal of autism and developmental disorders
• 影响因子: 3.9
• 作者: Maras KL

Impact of the Temporal Dynamics of Speech and Gesture on Communication in Autism Spectrum Disorder

言语和手势的时间动态对自闭症谱系障碍患者沟通的影响

• DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.380
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences
• 作者: Lambrechts A