Lecture 2: Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 3 stages of memory?
A
- encoding: gathering info and putting it in a form that can be held in memory
- storage: holding encoded info in the brain over time
- retrieval: accessing and pulling out the stored info at a later time
2
Q
Do our brains objectively record data?
A
- No, memory is made up of subjective interpretations—some info is more salient than others
- Old information has more influence than new
- Belief perseverance
- Memory traces fade over time
- It is surprisingly easy to distort and/or create memories
- Memory is strongly influenced by our views, attitudes and beliefs at the time of recall
- Sensory input is influenced by expectation
- Psychologists have difficulty telling the difference between real and implanted memories
3
Q
What are heuristics and cognitive biases?
A
-
Heuristics are shortcuts, simplified processing
- Filling in the blanks w/ pre-existing knowledge
-
Cognitive biases are mental errors
- Often caused by heuristics
4
Q
What 4 criteria are jurors given for evaluating eyewitness testimony?
A
- (1) The reliability of the witness
- e.g. Was the eyewitness’s ability to observe the event impaired?
- (2) The circumstances under which the observation was made
- e.g. How good was the visibility? What was the duration of the observation?
- (3) The description of the observation given
- e.g. How specific was it? Did the eyewitness express certainty?
- (4) The circumstances of the procedure used to obtain an identification
- e.g. How much time had elapsed between the observation and identification?
- Was the lineup procedure fair?
5
Q
Is there any correlation between eyewitness confidence and accuracy?
A
- There is a very weak correlation (+0.10) between confidence and accuracy—might not be an actual correlation at all
- Jurors tend to not believe witnesses whose memory for trivial details is poor, but these are actually usually the best (most accurate) witnesses
- Why? The more details remembered about the scene, the less details remembered about the face + victim
- Discussion or questioning about events can alter or add to memory
6
Q
How do we distinguish between real and suggested memories?
A
Subtle differences:
- Actual memories tend to include more sensory details
- Suggested memories include greater references to cognitive processes
Real and suggested memories are often indistinguishable b/c:
- Suggested memories are retrieved just as quickly and w/ as much confidence as real memories
- Equally likely to be maintained following contradictory info
7
Q
Who is susceptible to misinformation and why?
A
- The relationship is complex—the most susceptible were those with either the best or the worst memory abilities
- Why? The incorporation of misinformation into memory requires two opposite memory demands:
- 1) Forgetting the original information → bad memory
- 2) Remembering the suggested → good memory; overconfident
8
Q
What causes misinformation to be integrated into memory?
A
- The act of recollection itself
- Specifically? Encouraging the remembering of misinformation reduces access to the original info
- Which happens a lot in the legal process when you have to go to the police several times, have to talk to lawyers, etc.
- Repetition also increases your confidence
9
Q
What is the cross-race effect (or “own-race bias”)?
A
- When it’s harder for people to recognize the faces of people outside their own racial group vs. w/in their own racial group
- Maybe b/c we encode features of people from other races more superficially
- Or b/c we have more experience + contact w/ people our own race → develop better rules for making useful distinctions between faces
- But our ability to recognize faces from other groups increases w/ increased contact
10
Q
Explain the Morgan et al. (2004) study on effects of stress on memory.
A
- Found that the rate of correct identifications (after a mock interrogation) was significantly higher for participants in the low stress vs. high condition
- High stress condition produced significantly more false positives
- Further studies have shown that high stress impairs memory
11
Q
What is the weapon focus effect?
A
- If eyewitnesses see a perpetrator holding a gun or a knife, their ability to recognize the assailant is impaired
- More focus on weapon since it’s more dangerous → less likely to remember details of the assailant
12
Q
What are the arousal/threat hypothesis and unusual item hypothesis?
A
- arousal/threat hypothesis → the danger imposed by weapon is an important part of this effect
- unusual item hypothesis → if you see a bank robber holding a goose hostage, your attention would be on the goose, not b/c it’s dangerous but b/c it’s unusual
13
Q
Explain the Loftus & Palmer (1974) study on the effects of leading questions.
A
- Ps watched a video of a minor fender bender
- 5 groups of Ps were asked separate Qs:
- How fast were the cars going when they _____ each other?
- Smashed vs. contacted; smashed on average over 10km faster
- Implications for research: Ps remembered the car as going faster depending on the language/verb being used
- Real life implications? Might be harsher sentences if witnesses report the car as going a faster speed, depending on how the police question them, where there shouldn’t be this difference
- Police officers should strive for more open-ended questions
14
Q
What is the misinformation effect?
A
- Happens when a person’s recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information
- Depends on an individual’s suggestibility + misattribution
15
Q
What is the source misattribution hypothesis?
A
- When info is retained in memory but the source of the memory is forgotten; i.e. confusion as to the source of details
- Attributes information to wrong source
- “Is this something I actually experienced? …or was I told about it?”
