Highlighted Curriculum Vitae
Jason J. Dickinson, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Montclair State University
2005 Ph.D., legal psychology,
Florida International University,
Miami, Florida
Research Grants
2020-2023 Principal Investigator. Reliability of Evidence and Testimony in Child Maltreatment Cases.
National Science Foundation grant with Nicole E. Lytle (Montclair State University), $366,469.
(March 1, 2020 – February 28, 2023). Grant No. SES-1946687.
2017-2020 Principal Investigator. Collaborative Research: The Impact of Face-to-Face and Remote
Interviewing on Children’s Eyewitness Evidence. National Science Foundation grant with Debra
Poole (Central Michigan University) and Nicole E. Lytle (Montclair State University), total award
$311,753 (MSU portion $166,658) (May 1, 2017- April 30, 2020) Grant No. SES-1654827.
2011-2015 Principal Investigator. Collaborative Research: The Impact of Disclosure History and
Interviewing Protocol on Children’s Eyewitness Testimony. National Science Foundation grant with
Debra Poole (Central Michigan University), total award $247,081 (MSU portion $139,649) (August
15, 2011- July 31, 2014) Grant No. SES-1121890.
2009-2011 Principal Investigator. Collaborative Research: The Impact of Cuing and Comfort Drawing on the
Eyewitness Testimony of Behaviorally Inhibited and Uninhibited Children. National Science
Foundation grant with Debra Poole (Central Michigan University), total award $194,669 (MSU
portion $76,677) (August 15, 2009 – August 15, 2011) Grant No. SES-0921161.
2007-2010 Principal Investigator. Collaborative Research: The Impact of Cuing on Children's Eyewitness
Testimony and Source Monitoring. National Science Foundation grant with Debra Poole (Central
Michigan University), total award $204,230 (MSU portion $117,186) (August 1, 2007 - July 31,
2010). Grant No. SES-0718856.
2017 Principal Investigator (with Nicole E. Lytle). Web Based Training for Mandated Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect. New Jersey Department of Children and Families. Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, $15,077. (March 1, 2017 – September 30, 2017.)
Awarded to develop a web-based training and educational resource for mandated reporting in
the State of New Jersey. See https://reportingchildabusenj.org/
Post B.A. Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy
These awards provided a Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy to 40 DCPP workers
annually (Department of Child Protection and Permanency, Office of Adolescent Services, New
Jersey Department of Children and Families).
2019-2021 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020).
2019-2020 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2020).
2018-2019 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2018 – June 30, 2019).
2017-2018 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2018).
2016-2017 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017).
2015-2016 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016).
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Adolescent Advocacy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, $246,238. (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015).
New Jersey Child Welfare Training Partnership (NJCWTP)
In collaboration with the New Jersey Child Welfare Training Academy (NJCWTA), Rutgers
University, and Stockton University, the NJCWTP was responsible for providing curriculum
development and in-service training to Department of Child Protection and Permanency
(DCPP) staff, including all levels of leadership, throughout the state’s public child welfare
system.
2015-2016 Principal Investigator. New Jersey Child Welfare Training Partnership (NJCWTP) Grant.
Subcontract through Rutgers University, $550,000. (July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016).
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. New Jersey Child Welfare Training Partnership (NJCWTP) Grant.
Subcontract through Rutgers University, $768,262. (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015).
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. New Jersey Child Welfare Training Partnership (NJCWTP) Grant.
Subcontract through Rutgers University, $68,262. (July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016).
Transitions for Youth Summer Housing Internship Program (SHIP)
The Summer Housing Internship Program (SHIP) was a summer program which offered
recipients of the New Jersey Foster Care (NJFC) scholarship stable housing and paid
internship opportunities to students who otherwise lacking the financial, family, and social
connections to secure summer housing.
2015-2016 Principal Investigator. Summer Housing Internship Program. New Jersey Department of Children
and Families. $127,000. (July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2016).
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. Transitions for Youth Summer Housing Internship Program. New Jersey
Department of Children and Families – Subcontract from Rutgers University. $131,702. (July 1,
2014 – June 30, 2015).
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. Transitions for Youth Summer Housing Internship Program. New Jersey
Department of Children and Families (DCF) – Subcontract from Rutgers University, Supplement.
$3,004. (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015).
Post B.A. Certificate in Child Advocacy and Policy
In collaboration with the New Jersey Child Welfare Training Academy (NJCWTA), this grant
provided the Post-BA Certificate Program in Child Advocacy and Policy to 40 DCPP students
annually.
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Child Advocacy and Policy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families. $117,000. (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015).
2014-2015 Principal Investigator. Post-BA Certificate in Child Advocacy and Policy. New Jersey Department of
Children and Families, Supplement. $10,900. (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015).
Direct Service and Training Grants
Highlighted Publications
Dickinson, J. J., & Lytle, N. E. (2022). Recommendations for improving the reliability of fresh complaint
testimony in child witness investigations. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 11(3),
317–321. https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000064
Dickinson, J. J., Lytle, N. E., & Poole, D. A. (in press). The emerging investigative practice of tele-forensic
interviewing: Implications for children's testimony. In K. Scherr & D. DeMatteo (Eds). The Oxford Handbook
of Psychology and Law.
Dickinson, J. J., Lytle, N. E., & Poole, D. A. (2021). Tele-forensic interviewing can be a reasonable alternative to
face-to-face interviewing of child witnesses. Law and Human Behavior, 45 (2), 97-111.
doi:10.1037/lhb0000443.supp (Supplemental).
Brubacher, S. P., Poole, D. A., Dickinson, J. J., La Rooy, D., Szojka, Z., & Powell, M. B. (2019). Effects of
interviewer familiarity and supportiveness on children's recall across repeated interviews. Law and Human
Behavior, 43, 507-516. http://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000346
Brubacher, S. P., Peterson, C., La Rooy, D., Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2019). How children talk about
events: Implications for eliciting and analyzing eyewitness reports. Developmental Review, 51, 70-89.
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2018.12.003
Lytle, N. E., Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2019). Techniques for interviewing reluctant child witnesses. In
(J.J. Dickinson, N.S. Compo, R.N Carol, B.L. Schwartz, & M.R. McCauley, Eds.) Evidence-based
Investigative Interviewing: Applying Cognitive Principles (pp. 193-215). Routledge. ISBN 9781138064690
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2017). The influence of disclosure history and body diagrams on children’s
reports of inappropriate touching: Evidence from a new analog paradigm. Law and Human Behavior, 41, 1-12.
http://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000208
Dickinson, J. J., Brubacher, S. P., & Poole, D. A. (2015). Children’s performance on ground rules: Implications
for forensic interviewing. Law and Human Behavior, 39, 87–97. http://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000119
Brubacher, S. P., Poole, D. A., & Dickinson, J. J. (2015). The use of ground rules in investigative interviews with
children: A synthesis and call for research. Developmental Review, 36, 15–33.
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2015.01.001
Poole, D. A., Brubacher, S. B., & Dickinson, J. J. (2015). Children as witnesses. B. L. Cutler & P. A. Zapf (Eds.),
APA Handbook of Forensic Psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 3-31). American Psychological Association.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/14462-000
Poole, D. A., Dickinson, J. J., Brubacher, S. P., Liberty, A. E., & Kaake, A. M. (2014). Deficient cognitive control
fuels children’s exuberant false allegations. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 118, 101–109.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2013.08.013
Poole, D. A., Dickinson, J. J., Brubacher, S.P. (2014). Sources of unreliable testimony from children. Roger
Williams Law Review, 19, 382–410.
Poole, D. A., & Dickinson, J. J. (2014). Comfort drawing during investigative interviews: Evidence of the safety
of a popular practice. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38(2), 192–201. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.04.012
Poole, D. A., & Dickinson, J. J. (2013). Investigative interviews of children. In R. Holliday and T. Marche (Eds.),
Child forensic psychology: Victim and Witness Memory. (p. 157–178). Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN
978-0230577084
Poole, D. A., & Dickinson, J. J. (2011). Evidence supporting restrictions on uses of body diagrams in forensic
interviews. Child Abuse & Neglect, 35, 659–669. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.05.004
Dickinson, J. J., Poole, D. A., & Bruck, M. (2005). Back to the future: A comment on the use of anatomical dolls in forensic interviews. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 5, 63–74.
Highlighted Conference Presentations
Dickinson, J. J., & Lytle, N. E. (2022, March 16-19). Enhancing parents’ recall for children’s disclosures of bodily
touch by a stranger [Paper presentation]. In M. Lawson, Chair, Children’s disclosures to parents and eliciting
evidence of parent child discussions [Symposium]. American Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference,
Denver, Colorado.
Barocca, C., Stettler, B., Lytle, N. E., & Dickinson, J. J. (2022, March 16-19). Field data supports the emerging
investigative practice of children’s tele-forensic interviewing [Paper presentation]. American Psychology and Law
Society Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado.
Brubacher, S. P., Dickinson, J. J., La Rooy, D. J., Poole, D. A., & Powell, M. B. (2017, March 16-18). Supportiveness
and familiarity effects on children's disclosures of transgressions across repeated interviews. In S. Stolzenberg
(Chair), Contextual and personal factors associated with the veracity and credibility of children's reports of
wrongdoing [Symposium]. American Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Dickinson, J. J., Brubacher, S. P., Poole, D. A. (2017, March 16-18). Varying memory cues—but not time to think—
impacts young children’s disclosures of inappropriate touching [Poster presentation]. American Psychology and
Law Society Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington.
Baker, B., Poole, D.A., & Dickinson, J. J. (2015, March 19-21). Sex differences in children’s suggestibility. Do they
exist? [Poster presentation]. American Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, San Diego, California.
Dickinson, J. J., Poole, D. A., Brubacher, S. P., Liberty A., & Kaake, A. (2014, June). The Relationship between
deficient cognitive control and children’s exuberant false allegations [Paper presentation]. International
Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) Annual Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Brubacher, S. P., Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. (2014, June). Do children understand “ground rules”? Implications
for interviewing practice [Paper presentation]. International Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG)
Annual Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Brubacher, S. P., Poole, D.A., Dickinson, J, Liberty, A., & Kaake, A. (2014, March 6-8). Thoughtless pointing to body
diagrams is associated with individual differences in cognitive control [Paper presentation]. American
Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2013, March 7-9). Is a picture worth a thousand words? The effect of comfort
drawing on children’s eyewitness testimony [Paper presentation]. American Psychology and Law Society Annual
Conference, Portland, Oregon.
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2012, March 14-17). Mr. Science—Germ Detective! A novel paradigm for
manipulating disclosure histories for research on children’s eyewitness testimony [Paper presentation]. American
Psychology and Law Society Annual Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2011, June 1-3). Mr. Science—Germ Detective! A novel paradigm for manipulating
disclosure histories for research on children’s eyewitness testimony [Paper presentation]. International
Investigative Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) Conference, Dundee, Scotland.
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2011, June 1-3). The eyewitness testimony of behaviorally inhibited and uninhibited
children: Implications for forensic interviewing. [Paper presentation]. International Investigative Interviewing
Research Group (iIIRG) Conference, Dundee, Scotland.
Korkman, J., Finnila-Tuohimaa, K., & Dickinson, J.J. (2011, June 1-3). Recorded conversations between caretakers
and their children when suspecting child sexual abuse [Paper presentation]. International Investigative
Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) Conference, Dundee, Scotland.
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2011, March 2-6). The eyewitness testimony of behaviorally inhibited and
uninhibited children: Implications for forensic interviewing [Paper presentation]. International Congress on
Psychology and Law, Miami, Florida.
Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2010, June). Traditional vs. body-outline focused interviewing: An empirical
comparison and recommendations for forensic interviewers. [Paper presentation]. International Investigative
Interviewing Research Group (iIIRG) Conference, Stavern, Norway.