Eyewitness Testimony Flashcards
Three stages of memory
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval
Encoding
How information is stored in memory
Not all information is stored
What may affect encoding of memory?
Prior knowledge of the event
Duration of the event
Repetition of the event
Stress (cortisol) level at the time
What is encoding based on?
Limited attentional resources
Storage
Short term memory
Move to long term memory after rehearsal, repetition and surviving intervening experiences
Where do encoded items go?
Short-term memory
What enhances retrieval?
Motivation to recall
Desire to cooperate with questioner
Understanding what is important to recall
What inhibits recall?
Motivation to recall (pressure causes stress)
Desire to cooperate with questioner
Understanding what is important to recall
Until when were children not used as witnesses?
Early 1900s
What is recognition?
The ability to identify, after witnessing an event, or learning a list of items, any details or items that were present during the event or in the list
What is recall?
After witnessing an event, or learning a list of items, a participant is asked to describe the event or list all the study items that he or she can remember
Semantic memory
General knowledge Facts Places Names Words
Episodic memory
Knowledge of personal events
Tulving (1983)
Identified differences between semantic and episodic memory
Retrieval cues are important in retrieval of episodic memory
What is a synergistic ecphory?
When retrieval cues activate a stored memory
Scripts
Generalised event representation
Slot for every expectation
Leads to automatic expectations for slots to be filled when recalling the event
When do we use scripts?
When there is a weak memory trace we use a script as a template
Congruent
If the journey is congruent with your script-based knowledge, you are likely to retrieve it accurately
Mismatch
If there is a mismatch between expectation and actual events, this may be resolved by using the expectation as a guide, preventing accurate recall
Hess (1991)
Scripts develop with age
Young children have scripts for recurring events
____ age children are more vulnerable to the negative effects of script based knowledge than ____ age children
Preschool
Elementary school
____ children are unable to differentiate between a special event and a scripted event
Preschool
As children get older they are able to identify ______
Younger children may incorporate this into their scripts
Special events
As children get older they learn more…
Words
Events
People
Speech
Jack et al (2009)
Language development is related to encoding of memories
Strategies for memory
Rehearsal
Organisation - grouped into meaningful chunks
Ellaboration - visual or verbal connections between words
Children’s eyewitness testimony can be false because of
Lying
Conforming
Lying
Intentionally changing the truth due to an inability to remember events
Conforming
Unintentionally distorting the truth about events they do remember
Lindberg (1991)
Showed videos of children cheating
Asked if the children cheated
Younger children couldn’t recognise cheating and so reported it less
As children get older, they become less _____
Suggestible
Ceci (1991)
Children are not very suggestible when talking about inappropriate touching or sexual abuse
Bruck et al (1995)
Children can be susceptible to suggestion and this can lead to wrongful convictions
Source monitoring
The ability to identify the sources of beliefs accurately
Children perform worse than adults….
Only when misleading questions are used
Children perform just as well as adults….
When the questions being used are fair
Bauer et al (1994)
Exposed children 1-2 years old to events both novel and familiar
Tested 18 months later
Children were able to recall many novel events
Demonstrates ability for long-term recall of specific past events
Ways to reduce suggestibility
Reduce leading questions
Use free recall
Warn witnesses not to be influenced and tell them to only report what they are confident on
Social pressures - do adults make children lie?
Children want to comply with and please adults
They aren’t raised to question them
They may lie to meet a goal set by an adult
They may not deal with the pressure or leading questions in a court room - may lead to conforming in a stressful situation
They are susceptible to demand characteristics in the courtroom
