Research
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Enhancing investigative interview training using a child avatar system: A comparative study of interactive environments
AbstractThe impact of investigative interviews by police and Child Protective Services (CPS) on abused children can be profound, making effective training vital. Quality in these interviews often falls short and current training programs are insufficient in enabling adherence to best practice. We present a system for simulating an interactive environment with alleged abuse victims using… Read more
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Enhancing questioning skills through child avatar chatbot training with feedback
Training child investigative interviewing skills is a specialized task. Those being trained need opportunities to practice their skills in realistic settings and receive immediate feedback. A key step in ensuring the availability of such opportunities is to develop a dynamic, conversational avatar, using artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can provide implicit and explicit feedback to… Read more
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A field assessment of child abuse investigators’ engagement with a child-avatar to develop interviewing skills
Abstract Background Child investigative interviewing is a complex skill requiring specialised training. A critical training element is practice. Simulations with digital avatars are cost-effective options for delivering training. This study of real-world data provides novel insights evaluating a large number of trainees’ engagement with LiveSimulation (LiveSim), an online child-avatar that involves a trainee selecting a… Read more
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A Comparative Study of Interactive Environments for Investigative Interview of A Virtual Child Avatar
In cases of suspected child abuse, police and child protection services (CPS) personnel often conduct investigative interviews. These interviews are intended to obtain a reliable account from the child about the alleged crime so that proper legal and clinical interventions can be implemented, with the prosecution presenting the case in court. Studies show that the… Read more
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A Virtual Reality Talking Avatar for Investigative Interviews of Maltreat Children
Interviews conducted with the maltreated children are often the primary source of evidence in prosecution. Many alleged incidents of abuse are not prosecuted because the children’s testimony is collected in an unreliable way. Research shows the consistent poor quality of these interviews and highlights the need for better training of Child Protection Services (CPS) and… Read more
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Human vs. GPT-3: The challenges of extracting emotions from child responses
Conducting interviews with abused children requires a specific skill set that is obtained by undergoing special training. In addition to acquiring the interview training skills, these also have to be constantly refreshed to keep a high level of quality. Technology, such as synthetic video generation and natural language processing, is in a stage that could… Read more
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Comparison of Crowdsourced and Remote Subjective User Studies: A Case Study of Investigative Child Interviews
Crowdsourced and remote user studies have recently gained popularity as alternatives to traditional laboratory studies. However, they are subject to unreliability, and it is challenging to ensure that valid results are collected, especially when conducting user studies with experts. Experts are a sparse resource, usually having busy schedules and heavy workloads, and are not necessarily… Read more
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Towards an AI-driven talking avatar in virtual reality for investigative interviews of children
Artificial intelligence (AI) and gaming systems have advanced to the stage where the current models and technologies can be used to address real-world problems. The development of such systems comes with different challenges, e.g., most of them related to system performance, complexity and user testing. Using a virtual reality (VR) environment, we have designed and… Read more
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Synthesizing a Talking Child Avatar to Train Interviewers Working with Maltreated ChildrenÂ
When responding to allegations of child sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, Child Protection Service (CPS) workers and police personnel need to elicit detailed and accurate accounts of the abuse to assist in decision-making and prosecution. Current research emphasizes the importance of the interviewer’s ability to follow empirically based guidelines. In doing so, it is essential… Read more
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Is More Realistic Better? A Comparison of Game Engine and GAN-based Avatars for Investigative Interviews of Children
The success of investigative interviews with maltreated children is often defined by the interviewer’s ability to elicit a reliable and coherent account of the alleged incident from the child. Research shows that a child avatar mimicking a maltreated child can improve interviewers’ performance in conducting these interviews. The realism of such a child avatar is… Read more
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