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Design/methodology/approach -A detailed account is given of the interaction between practitioner and witness for producing a facial composite. This account involves an overview of the Cognitive Interview (CI) and the Holistic CI (H-CI) techniques used to obtain a description of the face of an offender (target); we then describe how this information is used to produce a composite from five popular face-production systems: Sketch, PRO-fit, E-FIT, EvoFIT and EFIT-V. An online annex is also made available to provide procedural information for additional composite systems. Practical implications -The work is valuable to forensic practitioners and researchers as a reference for interviewing techniques (involving a CI or an H-CI) and using facial-composite systems.Originality/value -We provide an accessible, current guide for how to administer interviewing techniques and how to construct composites from a range of face-production systems. Keywords Facial composite, Sketch, PRO-fit, E-FIT, EvoFIT, EFIT-V, Cognitive Interview (CI), Holistic CI (H-CI) Paper type ProceduralAcknowledgements The authors would like to thank Claire Ford, Emily Graham and Claire Madin,

Older adults’ memory reports are often less complete and accurate than those by younger adults. The current study assessed the suitability of the Self-Administered Interview (SAI) as retrieval support for older eyewitnesses, and examines whether experience with the SAI leads to improved performance on subsequent events where the SAI is not used. Participants recalled an event with the SAI or free recall instructions. After 1 week, all participants watched a second event and freely recalled its content. SAI participants reported more correct details for the initial event, and a “transfer” of the initial recall advantage to the second event was observed.

RationaleResearch has shown that alcohol can have both detrimental and facilitating effects on memory: intoxication can lead to poor memory for information encoded after alcohol consumption (anterograde amnesia) and may improve memory for information encoded before consumption (retrograde facilitation). This study examined whether alcohol consumed after witnessing a crime can render individuals less vulnerable to misleading post-event information (misinformation).MethodParticipants watched a simulated crime video. Thereafter, one third of participants expected and received alcohol (alcohol group), one third did not expect but received alcohol (reverse placebo), and one third did not expect nor receive alcohol (control). After alcohol consumption, participants were exposed to misinformation embedded in a written narrative about the crime. The following day, participants completed a cued-recall questionnaire about the event.ResultsControl participants were more likely to report misinformation compared to the alcohol and reverse placebo group.ConclusionThe findings suggest that we may oversimplify the effect alcohol has on suggestibility and that sometimes alcohol can have beneficial effects on eyewitness memory by protecting against misleading post-event information.

Nonbelieved memories (NBMs) are vivid memories that people no longer believe represent events that happened. This study examined NBMs across the adult life span. Participants (N ϭ 138, ages 18 -72) described a nonbelieved memory, why they stopped believing the memory, dated the memory, and rated the memory on metacognitive and recollective features. Participants also rated age-matched believed memories and believed-not-remembered events (e.g., family stories). While the NBMs were dated across the life span, the majority were dated in mid-to-late childhood (ages 4 -12), indicating that autobiographical belief for memories from this period is vulnerable to revision later in life. Commensurate with prior findings, believed and nonbelieved memories shared similar recollective qualities, and NBMs were rated as less important and less coherent. This pattern did not differ as a function of age, time since the event, or time since withdrawal of belief. NBMs remain vivid for long periods of time once formed.