Unlocking Witness Memory in the Digital Age: A Bayesian Cross-Cultural Investigation of 5Ws and AIM to Boost Recall and Detect Deception

Purpose: Witness interviewing in online formats requires adapted techniques for digital environments. This experiment combined the Asymmetric Information Management (AIM) technique with the 5Ws Embedded Free Recall (5Ws-EFR) to enhance information elicitation and credibility assessment in written online witness interviews. Methods: Participants watched a shoplifting video and completed a two-phase online written interview. Truth-tellers provided honest accounts, while lie-tellers gave modified descriptions. After initial free recall, participants received either AIM instructions alone or AIM combined with 5Ws-EFR. Statements were analysed using LIWC-22 for total detail and a theoretically motivated set of episodic memory dimensions. Results: Participants showed greater recall improvement from first to second interview in the AIM+5Ws-EFR condition (d = 0.85 for total word count, d = 0.63 for temporal details) compared to AIM alone (d = 0.43 for total word count, d = 0.36 for temporal details), but no veracity differences emerged between technique conditions. Conclusions: The findings indicate that combining AIM and 5Ws-EFR effectively improves information elicitation in online witness interviews, though it does not enhance deception detection in digital formats.