Truth is at hand: How gesture adds information during investigative interviews
Date
2010
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Publisher
Psychological Science
Abstract
The accuracy of information obtained in forensic interviews is critically important to credibility in our legal system. Research has shown that the way interviewers frame questions influences the accuracy of witnesses’ reports. A separate body of research has shown that speakers spontaneously gesture when they talk, and that these gestures can express information not found anywhere in the speaker’s talk. This study of children interviewed about an event that they witnessed joins these two literatures and demonstrates that (1) interviewers’ gestures serve as a source of information and, at times, misinformation that can lead witnesses to report incorrect details; (2) the gestures witnesses spontaneously produce during interviews convey substantive information that is often not conveyed anywhere in their speech, and thus would not appear in written transcripts of the proceedings. These findings underscore the need to attend to and document gestures produced in investigative interviews, particularly interviews conducted with children.
Description
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Keywords
substantive information, gestures, child sexual abuse, forensic interview, accuracy
Citation
Broaders, S. C., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2010). Truth is at hand: How gesture adds information during investigative interviews. Psychological Science, 21(5), 623-628.