Psychology
Profile
Background
In 1993, I graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a BSc (Hons) Psychology degree and commenced research for a Ph.D programme (HEFCE funded). My Ph.D research involved liaison with legal professionals, police officers and social workers. Five empirical studies investigated numerous issues regarding the detection of deception including nonverbal cues to deceit, the analysis and application of Criteria-Based Content Analysis and the perceptions of people with regard to cues to deceit. In September 1996, I took a one-year Research Associate post at the University of Wales, Swansea working on a Leverhulme Trust funded project with Dr Mark Blagrove entitled, 'The influence of sleep loss, personality and confidence on eyewitness suggestibility'. I graduated with a Ph.D from the University of Portsmouth in June 1997 and joined the Department of Psychology at Portsmouth soon after. I am currently the Director of Teaching and Learning for the Department of Psychology, the Course Leader for BSc Forensic Psychology and the Undergraduate Admissions Tutor. I also sit on the Science Faculty and University Learning and Teaching Committees and I am one of the university’s Harassment Advisers.
Teaching responsibilities
I co-ordinate four postgraduate units on our MSc Child Forensic Studies: Psychology and Law course namely Relevant Aspects of Child Development, Detecting Deception, Research Methods and Statistics and the final year Research Project. I also contribute to the undergraduate teaching of level one and level two Introduction to Forensic Psychology units as well as giving lectures on several other units at both undergraduate and postgraduate level (Developing Person, Current Trends in Psychology, Psychology of Investigations, Psychology and Law, Interviewing and Testimony). I supervise final year research projects at both undergraduate and postgraduate level on the detection of deception, suggestibility and investigative interviewing. I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Research interests and activities
• Nonverbal cues to deception
• The analysis and application of Statement Validity Assessment (and more specificall
Criteria-Based Content Analysis) as a method for detecting deceit in written accounts
• The perceptions of lay people and professionals with regard to cues to deceit
• Interviewing children for legal purposes
• External and internal influences on eyewitness suggestibility (especially the impact of
socially encountered misinformation)
• The influence of perceptions of mirroring on rapport building and susceptibility to suggestion
• The interaction between facial expression and relative attractiveness
In 2002, I completed a two-year, ESRC-funded project with Professor Aldert Vrij entitled, 'Will the truth come out? An investigation into the accuracy of Criteria-Based Content Analysis'. I have superwised three successful PhD students and am currently on the supervisory team of Sabine Quandte. Since 1996, I have been peer reviewing manuscripts for Expert Evidence, Legal and Criminological Psychology, Psychology, Crime and Law, Applied Cognitive Psychology and the Journal of Applied Social Psychology and in the last two years I have reviewed grant applications for the ESRC and Leverhulme Trust. In 2006 I was invited to be a member of the organising committee for the 2nd International Investigative Interviewing conference. I am a member of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group and the Deputy Director of the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology.
Indicative publications
Akehurst, L., Manton, S. & Quandte, S. (in press). Careful calculation or leap of faith?: A field study of the translation of CBCA ratings to final credibility judgements. Applied Cognitive Psychology.
Akehurst, L., Burden, N., & Buckle, J. (2009). The effect of socially encountered misinformation and a delay on children's eyewitness testimony. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 16(1), 125-136.
Almerigogna, J., Ost, J., Akehurst, L., & Fluck, M. (2008). Howinterviewer's non-verbal behaviours can affedt children’s perception and suggestibility. Jouranl of Experimental Child Psychology. 100, 17-39.
Almerigogna, J., Ost, J., Bull, R., & Akehurst, L. (2007). A state of high anxiety: How unsupportive interviewers can increase the suggestibility of child witnesses. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 21, 963-974.
Vrij, A., Akehurst, L., Brown, L. and Mann, S. (2006). Detecting lies in young children, adolescents and adults. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20 (9), 1225 – 1237.
Vrij, A., Akehurst, L. and Knight, S. (2006). Police officers', social workers', teachers' and general public's beliefs about deception in children, adolescents and adults. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 11, 297 – 312.
Akehurst, L., Bull, R., Vrij, A. and Koehnken, G. (2004) Training professionals to detect deception using Criteria-Based Content Analysis. Applied Cognitive Psychology. 18, 877 – 891.
Vrij, A., Akehurst, L., Soukara, S., & Bull, R. (2004). Let me inform you how to tell a convincing story: CBCA and Reality Monitoring scores as a function of age, coaching and deception. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 36 (2), 113 – 126.
Vrij, A., Evans, H., Akehurst, L and Mann, S (2004). Rapid judgements in assessing verbal and nonverbal Cues: Their potential for deception researchers and lie detection. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 283 – 296.
Vrij, A., Akehurst, L. Soukara, S., & Bull, R. (2004). Detecting deceit via analyses of verbal and nonverbal behavior in children and adults. Human Communication Research, 30 (1), 8 – 41.
Akehurst, L., Milne, R. and Koehnken, G. (2003). The effects of children’s age and delay on recall in a cognitive or structured interview. Psychology, Crime and Law, 9, 97-107.
Vrij, A., Akehurst, L., Soukara, S., & Bull, R. (2002). Will the truth come out? The effect of deception, age, status, coaching, and social skills on CBCA scores. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 261-283.
Akehurst, L., Koehnken, G. and Hoefer, E. (2001). The content credibility of accounts derived from live and video presentations. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 6, 65-83.
Blagrove, M. and Akehurst, L. (2000). The effects of sleep loss on confidence-accuracy relationships for reasoning and eyewitness memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 6(1), 59-73.
Akehurst, L. and Vrij, A. (1999). Creating suspects in police interviews. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29, 192-210.
Akehurst, L., Koehnken, G., Bull, R., and Vrij, A. (1996). Police officers’ and lay persons’ beliefs regarding deceptive behaviour. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 461-471.
Recent conference presentations
Conference presentations
Akehurst, L. & Feleppa, E. (2008). When co-witnesses confer it's not always bad news. Paper presented at the 18th conference of the European Association of Psychology & Law, 2-5 July, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Akehurst, L., Burden, N., & Buckle, J. (2007). “I don’t remember it like that!”: The effect of a delay and socially encountered misinformation on children’s suggestibility. Paper presented at BPS sponsored seminar concerning Social Influences on Memory. 2nd June, University of Portsmouth
Akehurst, L., Manton, S., & Quandte, S. (2007). The impact of CBCA ratings on judgements of credibility: A field investigation. Paper presented at a conference entitled Off the Witness Stand: Using Psychology in the Practice of Justice, 1 – 3 March, New York, USA.
Akehurst, L., & Worsley, J. (2006). Developmental trends in memory conformity for eyewitnesses. Paper presented at the 26th International Congress of Applied Psychology, 16 – 21 July, Athens, Greece.
Akehurst, L., Manton, S., & Quandte, S. (2006). The effectivenss of Criteria-Based Content Analysis in distinguishing between truthful and fabricated statements of child sexual abuse: The first UK-based field study. Paper presented at the 2nd International Investigative Interviewing conference, 5 – 7 July, Portsmouth, UK.
Akehurst, L. (2006). Distance learning: The highs and the lows. Paper presented at the University of Portsmouth, Science Faculty Learning and Teaching Conference. 26th June 2006, Portsmouth, UK.
Akehurst, L. (2005). Children’s deceptive behaviour. Invited presentation at conference entitled ‘Investigative interviewing of child witnesses: Taking stock and looking forward’, 5 – 7 September, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Akehurst, L & Burden, N. (2005). The effects of misinformation on children’s eyewitness testimony Paper presented at the 15th European Conference of Psychology and Law, 29th June – 2nd July, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Akehurst, L., Brown, L. & Vrij, A. (2004). E-mailed vs written vs verbal accounts: Implications for the detection of lies. Paper presented at the 14th European Conference of Psychology and Law, 8 – 11 July, Krakow, Poland.
Knowledge transfer
Since 1999 I have acted as a consultant with regard to the detection of deception for both corporate institutions (e.g. Royal and Sun Alliance and GAB Robins) and the public sector (e.g. Somerset NHS trust and South Wales Constabulary). Training has involved anything from half day sessions to two day training programmes.
I am often asked to contribute to radio and television programmes offering insight into the detection of deception and I organised a conference for April 2008 entitled “Aiding children in the legal system: Lessons from research”. I am on the organizing committee for the British Psychological Society's Division of Forensic Psychology conference which will be hosted by our Department in June 2011.