Research project focuses on improved accuracy of intelligence interviews

Security professionals are often required to produce detailed accounts of conversations and interviews that can inform important decisions and risk assessments. However, human memory isn’t perfect and factors such as time pressure, complex information and challenging environments can combine to affect how accurately details are remembered.

The new research project – running under the headline ‘Securing Optimal Understanding and Recall in Cognitive Elicitation’ (SOURCE) – will test evidence-based techniques designed to strengthen memory both during interviews and when information is recalled and reported at a later date.

The research will also examine whether teams remember events more accurately when working together, or whether group discussions can unintentionally introduce errors by influencing individual memories.

Post-doctoral research 

Dr Gianmarco Convertino has been awarded the prestigious post-doctoral research fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. Dr Convertino stated: “Effective interviewing relies heavily on human memory. We aim at decoding fundamental mechanisms that enable reliable and bias-resistant information gathering.”

Further, Dr Convertino explained: “I’m honoured that this project was selected for funding among highly competitive STEM disciplines. It’s an exciting opportunity to push the boundaries of cognitive research towards new and meaningful real-world applications.”  

Dr Convertino will work alongside Lorraine Hope, Professor of Applied Cognitive Psychology at the University of Portsmouth’s School of Psychology, Sport and Health Sciences and an internationally recognised expert in investigative interviewing and intelligence gathering. 

Professor Hope noted: “In a stroke of good fortune, one of the topics listed by the UK Intelligence Community was directly in my field of expertise and I managed to recruit Gianmarco, an excellent applicant from Sapienza University of Rome. I genuinely couldn't be more excited that we will have an opportunity to work on this challenge here at Portsmouth. Given the profile of this award, it’s a real coup we can host it here across strength areas relating to security, technology and research with impact.”

Cross-faculty collaboration

One key element of this  project is the cross-faculty collaboration within the University of Portsmouth. The researchers will work with experts in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries to employ the use of cutting-edge mixed reality technology. Participants will conduct realistic interviews with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered virtual characters, thereby allowing researchers to recreate the complexity and pressures of real-world intelligence gathering in a controlled environment.

Christian Morgner (Professor of Digital Culture and Social Innovation) serves as research lead for The Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality (CCIXR) in Creative and Cultural Industries. Morgner observed: “This project is a fantastic example of how collaboration between creative technologies and cognitive science can lead to innovative research with real-world applications, particularly so in areas as important as security and intelligence.”

Professor Morgner continued: “Immersive technology offers exciting new possibilities for understanding how people think, communicate and remember information in complex situations. By combining AI-powered virtual characters with mixed reality environments, we can recreate realistic interviewing scenarios that would be difficult to replicate using traditional research methods. This allows us to explore how people respond under pressure and develop more effective approaches towards gathering and recalling critical information.”

While previous studies have largely focused on police interviews or simple laboratory-based tasks, these approaches do not fully reflect the challenges faced by today’s security professionals. The SOURCE Project is the first to bring together memory science, immersive technology and intelligence-specific interviewing challenges within a single research programme.

The findings are expected to provide practical guidance for a range of security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies that rely on high-quality information gathering. The research will also inform future training programmes, helping today’s practising professionals to report information more accurately and make better-informed decisions.

Funded by the Government  

The Research Fellowships, which are funded by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, actively support outstanding early-career researchers to become future research leaders by providing funding for an ambitious five-year programme of independent research.

Co-funded for the first time by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) alongside the Government Office for Science (which has supported the programme for ten years), the programme is purpose-designed to promote unclassified basic research over a two-year period in areas of interest to the intelligence, security and defence communities.   

Professor Charlotte Deane, UKRI’s senior responsible owner for IS8 National Security and Defence, commented: “These fellowships support outstanding early-career researchers to pursue ambitious fundamental research, while working closely with partners across the national security community.”

Professor Deane concluded: “Through our partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Government Office for Science, the programme creates valuable connections between researchers and technical experts. Together, we are helping to build the talent and research capability needed to address future national security challenges and, importantly, strengthen the UK’s research and innovation ecosystem.”

*Further information is available online at www.port.ac.uk