memory 1.5

Question 1

when are leading questions used?

Answer 1

(used by the police of barristers/lawyers during a criminal trial) may lead to unreliable EWT being given and, ultimately, an innocent person being convicted

Question 2

leading question

Answer 2

a question that suggests or leads to a desired response due to the wording of it

e.g. “did you see the knife?” opposed to “did you see a knife?”

Question 3

response-bias explanation

Answer 3

wording of a question has no enduring effect on an eyewitness’ memory of an event, but influences the kind of answer given

Question 4

substitution explanation

Answer 4

wording of a question does affect eyewitness’ memory, distorting its accuracy

Question 5

misleading information

Answer 5

defined as information given to someone as part of a question that may change the way they perceive a situation or an event

it can take many forms including leading questions or post-event discussion

Question 6

weapon focus

Answer 6

eyewitnesses who focus on a weapon during a crime are more likely to make mistakes in their recall of other details, such as the perpetrator’s face.

Question 7

own-race bias

Answer 7

eyewitnesses are more likely to accurately identify someone of their own race than someone of a different race

Question 8

cross-race identification

Answer 8

eyewitnesses are more likely to make mistakes when identifying someone of a different race.

Question 9

who researched into the effects of misleading questions on EWT?

Answer 9

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Question 10

what was Loftus and Palmer (1974)’s aim?

Answer 10

investigate the effects of misleading information on EWT

Question 11

what was Loftus and Palmer (1974)’s procedure?

Answer 11

45 student participants were shown 7 short video clips of cars colliding

they were split into 5 groups

all participants were asked “About how fast were the cars going when they … each other?”

the verbs to fill in the blank were either:
smashed
collided
bumped
hit
contacted

Question 12

what were Loftus and Palmer (1974)’s results?

Answer 12

in mph:
smashed - 40.8
collided - 39.3
bumped - 38.1
hit - 34
contacted - 31.8

Question 13

what was Loftus and Palmer (1974)’s conclusion?

Answer 13

the phrasing of the question influenced the participants’ speed estimates

the more powerful the verb, the quicker the speed

Question 14

who researched into the effects of leading questions on EWT?

Answer 14

Loftus and Zanni (1975)

Question 15

what was Loftus and Zanni (1975)’s aim?

Answer 15

investigate the impact of leading questions on EWT

Question 16

what was Loftus and Zanni (1975)’s procedure?

Answer 16

participants were 100 university students and were all informed they were completing a study on memory

they were shown a one minute film of a car crash

they were then asked a leading question:
“did you see the broken headlight?”
“did you see a broken headlight?”

Question 17

what were Loftus and Zanni (1975)’s results?

Answer 17

the following percentages were the people claiming to have seen a broken headlight:
“did you see the broken headlight?” - 17%
“did you see a broken headlight” 7%

Question 18

what was Loftus and Zanni (1975)’s conclusion?

Answer 18

the changing of a simple word as part of a leading question can impact participants’ recall

Question 19

explain how research into misleading information regarding eyewitness testimony can be applied to real life

Answer 19

this research shaped the cognitive interview as the cognitive interview is designed to avoid leading questions and instead get witnesses to report everything

therefore it has application

Question 20

explain how Loftus and Palmer (1974)’s research lacks internal validity

Answer 20

watching film clips of car crashes is not at all like witnessing a real accident

e.g. a lack of emotional / dramatic content

participants get all the same view of the accident rather than seeing it from different vantage points

therefore it lacks internal validity

Question 21

post-event discussion

Answer 21

a potential source of misleading information where witnesses discuss what they saw after an event

conversations after the event can have a similar impact to leading questions as false information can be added in where people can mistake other people’s memories for their own

Question 22

who researched into the impact of post-event discussion on EWT?

Answer 22

Gabbert et al (2003)

Question 23

what was Gabbert et al (2003)’ aim?

Answer 23

to investigate the impact of post-event discussion on EWT

Question 24

what was Gabbert et al (2003)’s procedure?

Answer 24

sample consisted of 60 students from the University of Aberdeen and 60 older adults from a local community

participants watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet

the participants were either tested individually (control group) or in pairs (co-witness group)

participants in the co-witness group were told that they had watched the same video, however they had in fact seen different perspectives of the same crime and only one person had actually witnessed the girl stealing in the pair

participants in the co-witness group discusses the crime together

all of the participants then completed a questionnaire testing their memory of the event

Question 25

what were Gabbert et al (2003)’s results?

Answer 25

they found that 71% of the witnesses in the co-witness group recalled information they had not actually seen and 60% said that the girl was guilty, despite the fact they hadn’t seen her commit a crime

Question 26

what was Gabbert et al (2003)’s conclusion?

Answer 26

these results highlight the use of post-event discussion and the powerful effect this can have on the accuracy of EWT

Question 27

anxiety

Answer 27

an emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure

Question 28

Yerkes-Dodson Law

Answer 28

this inverted - U theory states that performance will increase with stress, but only up to a certain point, where it decreases drastically

low arousal = poor performance
high arousal = high performance

the relationship between performance and stress/arousal is inverted

Question 29

Deffenbacher (1983)

Answer 29

reviewed 21 studies of EWT with contradictory findings on the effects of anxiety on recall

he suggested the Yerkes-Dodson effect could explain this

both low and higher levels of anxiety produce poor recall whereas optimum levels lead to very good recall

Question 30

who’s research found that anxiety has a negative effect on recall?

Answer 30

Johnson and Scott (1976)

Question 31

what was Johnson and Scott (1976)’s aim?

Answer 31

to investigate the effects of anxiety on recall

Question 32

what was Johnson and Scott (1976)’s procedure?

Answer 32

participants sat in a waiting room believing they were going to take part in a lab study

participants heard a discussion in a room nearby then the following happened depending on the group they were in:
condition A (low anxiety) - a man came out of the room with a pen and grease on his hands
condition B (high anxiety) - a man came out of the room carrying a knife covered in blood

participants were then asked to identify the man from 50 photographs

Question 33

what were Johnson and Scott (1976)’s results?

Answer 33

condition A (low anxiety) - 49% accurate at identifying the man

condition B (high anxiety) - 33% accurate at identifying the man

Question 34

what was Johnson and Scott (1976)’s conclusion?

Answer 34

when anxious and aroused, witnesses focus on a weapon at the expense of other details

Question 35

who’s research found that anxiety has a positive effect on recall?

Answer 35

Yullie and Cutshall (1986)

Question 36

what was Yullie and Cutshall (1986)’s aim?

Answer 36

the investigate the effects of anxiety on EWT

Question 37

what was Yullie and Cutshall (1986)’s procedure?

Answer 37

in an actual crime, a gun shop owner shot a thief dead

there were 21 witnesses, 13 agreed to participate in the study

participants were interviewed 4-5months after the incident

the information recalled was compared to the police interviews at the time of the shooting

witnesses rated how stressed they felt at the time of the incident

Question 38

what were Yullie and Cutshall (1986)’s results?

Answer 38

witnesses were very accurate in what they recalled and there was little change after 5 months

some details were less accurate e.g. age/weight/height

participants who reported the highest levels of stress were most accurate (about 88% compared to 75% for the less stressed group)

Question 39

what was Yullie and Cutshall (1986)’s conclusion?

Answer 39

anxiety does not appear to reduce the accuracy of EWT for a real world event and may enhance it

Question 40

explain the limitation that anxiety may not be relevant to weapon focus

Answer 40

Johnson and Scott’s participants may have focused on the weapon not because they were anxious, but because they were surprised

Pickel (1998) found accuracy in identifying the ‘criminal’ was poorest when the object in their hand was unexpected e.g raw chicken and a gun in a hairdressers (both unusual)

this suggests the weapons effect is due to unusualness rather than anxiety/threat and so tells us nothing about the specific effects of anxiety on recall

Question 41

explain how the supporting evidence for the negative effects of anxiety on EWT is a strength

Answer 41

Valentine and Mesout (2009) used heart rate which is an objective measure to divide visitors to the London Dungeon’s Labyrinth into low and high anxiety groups

high anxiety participants were less accurate than low anxiety in describing and identifying a target person

this therefore supports the idea that anxiety has a negative effect on immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event

Question 42

explain how supporting evidence for positive effects of anxiety on EWT is a strength

Answer 42

Christianson and Hubinette (1993) interviewed actual witnesses to bank robberies, some were direct victims (high anxiety) and others were bystanders (less anxiety)

they found more than 75% accurate recall across all witnesses. direct victims (most anxious) were even more accurate

this suggests that anxiety does not affect the accuracy of EWT recall and may even enhance it

Question 43

counterpoint to how supporting evidence for positive effects of anxiety on EWT is a strength

Answer 43

Christianson and Hubinette interviewed witnesses long after the event

many things happened that the researchers couldn’t control e.g. post-event discussion

therefore, lack of control over confounding variables may be responsible for the (in)accuracy of recall ,not anxiety

Question 44

explain how problems with the inverted U theory is a limitation of research into the effects of anxiety on recall

Answer 44

the inverted-U theory appears to be a reasonable explanation of the contradictory findings linking anxiety with both increased and decreased eyewitness recall

however, it only focuses on physical anxiety and ignores other elements, including cognitive (how we think about a stressful events affects recall)

therefore, the inverted-U explanation is probably too simplistic to be useful e.g. anxious thoughts may not always leas to symptoms of anxiety but may block memory