cognitive and crim key question Flashcards
what is the key question for cog and crim
based on theories of memory is EWT too unreliable to trust
describe they key issue AO1
refers to info given by witness after seeing a crime occur
seen as trustworthy and crucial in deciding guilt
devlin report (1976) courts should be cautious on sole reliance of ETW in absence of other evidence
large n.o of miscarriages eg 375 exonerations since 1989- 69% to do with EWT
innocence project 70% unreliable- 211 african americans 105 caucasions
example of miscarriage of justice used this way AO1
ronald cotton- accused of rape looked like sketch and people assumed it was him sentenced for life until they found real criminal and released 11 years later
describe MSM by atkinson and shiffrin
memory is seen as info from the environment come from our 5 senses stored in sensory memory for 1-2 seconds if attention is paid it then goes to STM which holds 9 items for 20 seconds and if rehearsed it can go to LTM for unlimited capacity and duration
how does MSM apply a02
if someone were to witness a crime and do not pay attention to details they won’t remember all the details and miss important details- then must be rehearsed to go to LTM which they will do if it’s a significant crime but may not if it was traumatic so memory may decay- affect reliability and important details
describe bartletts 1093 study
memory isnt like a tape recorder and is grouped together into schemas and either we assimilate new info changing our schema to fit with what we learnt or we accommodate new info changing our memories to keep schema unchanged- schemas may confabulate to remember by removing details and changing to fit schemas
how does schema theory apply ao2
encodes and store memory of crime in a way that makes sense to them
our memory is active and reconstructive so is fallible to inaccuracies, and fill in gaps in their memory using schemas eg persons accent/appearance trigger E schema about the type of person who is committing the crime influencing encoding and recall perpetrator differently
post event info eg leading q and discussions with other witnesses result in inaccurate memory as it alters it making it hard to isolate true memory of the event
how could this be used to improve reliability AO2
cognitive interviewing- report everything, reinstate context, reverse order- interrupt schema activation likely to give a truer account rather than relying on their schemas and expectations of what occurred
to allow witness to describe event in a different perspective giving a truer account rather than witness relying on their experiences
how does tulving theory apply ao2
episodic memory is susceptible to transformation- recall of episodic memory is dependant on context
we encode context and emotional state we experienced at the time of the event as well as memory of the experience itself
how could tulving be used to improve reliability
state and context cues eg in CI to reinstate the context involves asking the witness to imagine all aspects of crime scene and aid recall by triggering further info
evidence for MSM ao3
butler and roediger- rehearsal of info presented in a lecture increased recall of the info one month
bahrick et al- people able to identify 70-80% of names and faces of people they went to high school with the 48 years later duration of LTM limitless people should be able to remeber crime if it’s in LTM
evidence of reconstructive memory
loftus and palmer- leading q/post event info
allport and postman showed ppts a drawing of argument on a subway train and describe poc to anothr ppt the black character was better dressed and more respectable than white character and white ppt reversed and had character holding a knife
bartletts war of ghosts tuckey and brewer asked about bank robbery all similar bank robbery schema
evidence against reconstructive memory
yuille and cutshaw - real crime and accuarate q 4 months later
steyvers and hammers research into EWT research actively constructs situation which encourages flawed recall not real life
evidence for tulving
godden and baddeley- scuba divers learned and recalled a list f words underwater or land and performed twice as well learning and recalling in diff contexts
kenealy- recalled more in the same mood rather when learning in different mood
