Gunn Astrid Baugerud

Kristjan Kask

Renate Volbert

Frontiers in Psychology

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TYPE EditorialPUBLISHED 02 May 2024DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1406867OPEN ACCESSEDITED AND REVIEWED BYColleen M. Berryessa,Rutgers University, Newark, United States*CORRESPONDENCEKristjan Kaskkask@tlu.eeRECEIVED 25 March 2024ACCEPTED 22 April 2024PUBLISHED 02 May 2024CITATIONKask K, Baugerud GA and Volbert R (2024)Editorial: Technological solutions helping totrain specialists’ interviewing skills of possiblevictims and witnesses.Front. Psychol. 15:1406867.doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1406867COPYRIGHT© 2024 Kask, Baugerud and Volbert. This is anopen-access article distributed under theterms of the Creative Commons AttributionLicense (CC BY). The use, distribution orreproduction in other forums is permitted,provided the original author(s) and thecopyright owner(s) are credited and that theoriginal publication in this journal is cited, inaccordance with accepted academic practice.No use, distribution or reproduction ispermitted which does not comply with theseterms.Editorial: Technological solutionshelping to train specialists’interviewing skills of possiblevictims and witnessesKristjan Kask1*, Gunn Astrid Baugerud2 and Renate Volbert31School of Natural Sciences and Health, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia, 2Department of SocialWork, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Faculty of Social Science, Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo,Norway, 3Psychologische Hochschule Berlin, Berlin, GermanyKEYWORDSinvestigative interviewing, serious gaming, avatar, adult education, adult learningEditorial on the Research TopicTechnological solutions helping to train specialists’ interviewing skills ofpossible victims and witnessesNewly adopted The Mendez Principles (Association for the Prevention of Torture,2022) form a framework how investigative interviews should be conducted worldwide.Just recently a white paper with recommendations based on the research regardingforensic child interviewing was published by the European Association of Psychologyand Law (Korkman et al., 2023). The white paper clearly points out that interviews incases of suspected child abuse should be conducted according to evidence-based interviewprotocols such as the NICHD interview protocol (Orbach et al., 2000). In addition,it is recommended that “the interviewers should receive specialized training, includingcontinuous assessment and feedback on their interviewing style for quality assurance”(Korkman et al., 2023).Pompedda (2018) points out that short and intensive theoretical trainings are(probably) the most common training formats. When practice sessions are included thenin these trainings actors are used to portray the witnesses the trainees have to interviewto practice newly learned skills in a format of a role play. However, it is known thatthe effect of such trainings will fade quickly if the feedback to the interviewing skills isnot continuous (Lamb et al., 2002). Thus, using a structured interview protocol such asthe NICHD protocol accompanied with extensive feedback increase the quality of theinterviews, however, the investigators’ performance declines when the feedback will benot given anymore (Lamb et al., 2002). Lamb (2016) points out that a knowledge transferproblem exists where interviewers are aware of the best-practice techniques but still fail toapply them in their interviews. One crucial point in here would be obtaining feedback onthe quality of the interviews to consolidate deep learning processes.During the last decade or so, several technological solutions have been created topractice interviewing skills. Powell et al. (2016) were among the first that started touse technological solutions and an eLearning curriculum for enhancing child interviewtraining. They initiated the utilization of a mechanized child avatar in 2009, that allowstrainees to interact by selecting from a set of tailored, predefined questions, to whichthe avatar respond (Guadagno and Powell, 2012). Subsequently, the efficacy and thevalue of such online training extends beyond conventional classroom instruction and isFrontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.orgKask et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1406867well-supported by a body of research, including studies by Bensonand Powell (2015), Powell et al. (2016), and Brubacher et al. (2022).Following this development, additional avatar-based solutions haveemerged (Pompedda et al., 2015; Haginoya et al., 2021), along withArtificial Intelligence (AI)-powered avatars (Baugerud et al., 2021;Salehi et al., 2022).The present Research Topic includes four experimental articlesregarding investigative interviews of children. Each of these paperscontributed to the literature by expanding our understanding ofhow technological solutions could help us increase the quality ofthese interviews.Segal et al. were interested in associations between emotionsand psychophysiological states when formulating questionsin simulated interviews of child avatars. Sixty psychologystudents in Lithuania conducted two interviews with childavatars while their emotions, galvanic skin response (GSR)resistance and heart rate (HR) were registered. They foundthat closed questions (in comparison with open questions)were preceded by more facially observable anger, higherGSR resistance and lower HR. These results indicate that theconstructs under observation can drive confirmation biasin formulating questions. Thus, the interviewers who havedifficulties regulating themselves emotionally may interviewchildren in a more biased way. Feedback also to interviewers’emotionality and expressed emotions could be a solution to solvethis issue.Kask et al. examined whether knowledge transfer effect willbe present among police investigators. Twenty-two Estonianinvestigators participated the experiment. Half of the investigatorsreceived feedback during four simulated child avatar interviews.The rest of the investigators received first no feedback during fouravatar interviews and then received feedback for the subsequentfour interviews. Investigators gave the researchers access to actualpolice interview transcripts with actual child victims and witnessesof physical and sexual abuse. Receiving feedback increased theproportion of recommended questions (i.e., invitations, openquestions) in avatar training and also in the actual police interviews(29% increase in asking recommended questions) after the avatartraining with feedback. The results suggests that this solutioncan be used as a tool in investigative interviewing to trainpolice officers.Haginoya et al. investigated the agreement of questioncoding between human operators and automated classificationusing AI (artificial intelligence). They created an AI model(AI Avatar) that classified the interviewer’s questions andselected appropriate answers without human assistance.Forty-two Japanese professionals conducted two simulatedchild avatar interviews and were provided wither nointervention, feedback, or modeling after the first interview.The percentage of agreement in coding question types(recommended vs. non-recommended) was 72%. The resultsindicate higher-than-chance-level classification accuracyshowing the potential for scalable training in the future toincrease the proportion of recommended question types ininterviewers’ questions.Røed et al. continued to study AI technology more indepth. There were interested in applying AI technology inthe child witness investigative interviewing context using aChatBot child avatar trained on well-designed mock investigativeinterviews Thirty Norwegian students were divided into twogroups, one received automated feedback from the AI-systemand the other did not. AI identified the question types. Theresults indicated high agreement among the raters in codingopen-ended, cued recall and closed questions. Furthermore, thelevel of agreement between the AI-based classification modeland human coders were high showing an excellent agreement.Those participants who received feedback showed a higherimprovement in open-ended questioning than those who didnot receive feedback. It can be concluded that their experimentprovides preliminary support for the use of self-run child avatarChatBots. When integrated with the feedback function, this typeof training would be beneficial in increasing the quality of theinterviewing skills.In conclusion, this Research Topic extends our understandingof how technology can help to training investigative interviewingskills of the investigators regarding child witnesses. Although thepapers focused on child witnesses, there is also a room to improvein a similar way of adult victims and witnesses’ interviews by thepolice officers as suggested by Tohvelmann and Kask (2022).Author contributionsKK: Writing – original draft. GB: Writing – review & editing.RV: Writing – review & editing.FundingThe author(s) declare that no financial support was received forthe research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.Conflict of interestThe authors declare that the research was conductedin the absence of any commercial or financial relationshipsthat could be construed as a potential conflictof interest.Publisher’s noteAll claims expressed in this article are solely thoseof the authors and do not necessarily represent those oftheir affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher,the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may beevaluated in this article, or claim that may be made byits manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by thepublisher.Frontiers in Psychology 02 frontiersin.orgKask et al. 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1406867ReferencesAssociation for the Prevention of Torture (2022). The Méndez Principles: A criticalreference Framework for the Implementation of the UN Convention Against Torture.Available online at https://www.apt.ch/sites/default/files/publications/The%20Mendez%20Principles%20and%20UNCAT_%20final%206.pdf (accessed February 14,2022).Baugerud, G. A., Johnson, M. S., Røed, R. K., Lamb, M. E., Powell, M. B.,Thambawita, V., et al. (2021). “Multimodal virtual avatars for investigative interviewswith children,” in Proceedings of the 2021 Workshop on Intelligent Cross-Data Analysisand Retrieval.Benson, M. S., and Powell, M. B. (2015). Organisational challenges to deliveringchild investigative interviewer training via e-learning. Int. J. Police Sci. Manage. 17,63–73. doi: 10.1177/1461355715580912Brubacher, S., P., Shulman, E. P., Bearman, M. J., and Powell, M.B. (2022). Teachingchild investigative interviewing skills: long-term retention requires cumulativetraining. Psychol. Pub. Policy Law 28, 123–136 doi: 10.1037/law0000332Guadagno, B., and Powell, M. (2012). “E-simulation for the purpose of trainingforensic (investigative) interviewers,” in Professional Education Using e-Simulations:Benefits of Blended Learning Design, eds. D. Holt, S. Segrave, and J. L. Cybulski (London:IGI Global), 71–86.Haginoya, S., Yamamoto, S., and Santtila, P. (2021). The combination of feedbackand modeling in online simulation training of child sexual abuse interviewsimproves interview quality in clinical psychologists. Child Abuse Neglect 115:105013.doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105013Korkman, J., Otgaar, H., Geven, L., Bull, R., Cyr, M., and Hershkowitz, I.(2023). White paper on forensic child interviewing: research-based recommendationsby the European association of psychology and law. Psychol. Crime Law 1–44.doi: 10.1080/1068316X.2024.2324098Lamb, M. E. (2016). Difficulties translating research on forensic interview practicesto practitioners: finding water, leading horses, but can we get them to drink? Am.Psychol. 71, 710–718. doi: 10.1037/amp0000039Lamb, M. E., Sternberg, K. J., Orbach, Y., Hershkowitz, I., Horowitz, D., and Esplin,P. W. (2002). The effects of intensive training and ongoing supervision on the qualityof investigative interviews with alleged sex abuse victims. Appl. Dev. Sci. 6, 114–125.doi: 10.1207/S1532480XADS0603_2Orbach, Y., Hershkowitz, I., Lamb, M., Sternberg, K., Esplin, P., andHorowitz, D. (2000). Assessing the value of structured protocols for forensicinterviews of alleged child abuse victims. Child Abuse Neg. 24, 733–572.doi: 10.1016/S0145-2134(00)00137-XPompedda, F. (2018). Training in investigative interviews of children: Serious gamingpaired with feedback improves interview quality (Doctoral dissertation). Turku: ÅboAkademi University.Pompedda, F., Zappalà, A., and Santtila, P. (2015). Simulations of child sexual abuseinterviews using avatars paired with feedback improves interview quality. Psychol.Crime Law 21, 28–52. doi: 10.1080/1068316X.2014.915323Powell, M. B., Guadagno, B., and Benson, M. (2016). Improving child investigativeinterviewer performance through computer-based learning activities. Polic. Soc. 26,365–374. doi: 10.1080/10439463.2014.942850Salehi, P., Hassan, S. Z., Lammerse, M., Sabet, S. S., Riiser, I., Røed, R. K.,et al. (2022). Synthesizing a talking child avatar to train interviewers working withmaltreated children. Big Data Cognit. Comput. 6, 1–22 doi: 10.3390/bdcc6020062Tohvelmann, M. L., and Kask, K. (2022). From child to adult victims and witnesses:ways of improving the quality of investigative interviews. Juridica Int. 31, 136–146.doi: 10.12697/JI.2022.31.10Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org

Editorial: Technological solutions helping to train specialists' interviewing skills of possible victims and witnesses

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Editorial: Technological solutions helping to train specialists' interviewing skills of possible victims and witnesses

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