Immediate free recall of brief conversations in investigative work

• Immediate free recall of brief realistic conversations was studied. Three audio-recorded conversations between two persons consisting of 10-14 statemens were conducted as they would have been in a social investigation. Each conversation was presented to a different group of social work students (n = 21, 63 and 47, i.e. 131 subjects), who were asked to write down the dialogue verbatim immediately after listening. The content was coded in a number of content themes. One of the results was that the subjects had forgotten half or more of the themes. The core theme was most frequently recalled. Forgotten content may have been perceived as less important. A trimodal order effect was observed: most content was lost near the betinning, in the middle and near the end of the conversations. A number of different memory errors were found. It is evident that errors in conversation recall can cause deficiencies in investigative work.  

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Tillämpad psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Applied Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi -- Socialt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology -- Social Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

conversation

discourse

speech

memory

recall

remembering

conversational memory

memory errors

memory fallacies

investigation

investigative work

social work

samtalsminne

minnesfel

utredning

utredningsmetodik

saklighet

tankefel

vittnesmål

kritiskt tänkande

källkritik

socialt arbete

Cognitive science

Kognitionsforskning

Applied psychology

Tillämpad psykologi

Social work

Socialt arbete

psykologi

Psychology

socialt arbete

Law

juridik

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)