Perceptual instability in police interview records: Examining the effect of pauses and modality on people’s perceptions of an interviewee

Abstract

This article examines whether the representation of linguistic features within transcripts and audio recordings of police interviews can influence people’s perceptions of the interviewee. We specifically examine the influence of the representation of pauses through an experimental methodology. Participants were presented with a police interview either in audio format or in one of a series of transcript formats and asked to make a series of judgements about the interviewee. We manipulated both the presence and representation of pauses within the audio and transcript stimuli to assess how this would influence perceptions. Results showed differences between perceptions of the interviewee in the audio and transcript conditions, and that different representations of pauses within transcripts created perceptual instability between participants. The findings illustrate that the presence and representation of linguistic features in transcripts can affect perceptual judgements. We argue this should be explicitly considered by those using transcripts within the legal system.