Memory - Eye witness testimony

Question 1

What did Bartlett believe about memories?

Answer 1

• Bartlett believed that memories are not accurate “Snapshots” of events, but the are “Reconstructions”, influenced by attitudes, stereotypes and bias
• If recall is not objective, this is a problem for EWT

Question 2

What can influence memories/recall?

Answer 2

• Schemas
• Attitudes
• Stereotypes
• Bias

Question 3

What are leading questions?

Answer 3

• Leading questions are questions that imply a particular answer which can influence how a memory is recalled
• This could be due to an actual change to the memory (Substitution bias explanation) or not to a change in memory, but instead due to an emotional pressure to give a particular response (Response bias explanation)

Question 4

What is post-event contamination/discussion?

Answer 4

• Post-event contamination is when the recalling of events by one witness alters the accuracy of the recall by another witness
• This could be due to memory conformity (When the witness goes along with the others accounts for social approval)

Question 5

What is reconstructive memory?

Answer 5

• Reconstructive memory is the theory that memory is reconstructed in recalling which causes the memory to have errors (Confabulations)
• This means that memories might not always be an accurate recording

Question 6

How does Loftus and Palmer’s study support the theory that leading questions can affect recall?

Answer 6

• Loftus and Palmer found that, when shown clips of traffic accidents, then asked leading questions about the cars speed, participants estimated a higher speed if a more extreme verb was used
• Contacted = 31.8 mph
• Smashed = 40.8 mph
• This suggests that leading questions can alter witness’s recollection of a crime

Question 7

How does Gabbert’s study support the theory that post-event contamination/discussion can lead to memory conformity

Answer 7

• Gabbert found that when able to discuss alternate videos of the same crime, 71%of participant pairs included information that wasn’t in their own videos compared to 0% of pairs who couldn’t discuss
• This shows that post- event contamination/discussion can cause memory conformity

Question 8

How is the impact of post-event contamination/discussion reduced, according to Bonder?

Answer 8

-According to Bonder, if witnesses are warned of its effects, the impact of post-event discussion/contamination can be reduced

Question 9

How does Loftus and palmer’s follow up study further support the theory that leading questions can affect recall?

Answer 9

• In Loftus and Palmer’s follow up study they found that participants were twice as likely to report seeing broken glass if the verb “smashed” was used rather than “hit” in a questionnaire 1 week after seeing the traffic accident clip
• This suggests that leading questions/misleading information can result in substitution, not just response bias

Question 10

What is anxiety?

Answer 10

-Anxiety is a mental state of arousal that includes feelings of extreme concern and tension

Question 11

How does anxiety affect recall in EWT?

Answer 11

• Anxiety can decrease recall, high levels of anxiety produce poor recall of the perpetrator
• This may be due to a weapon focus, this is when weapons cause anxiety, therefore witnesses become distracted and focus on the weapon rather than the criminal
• Anxiety can also increase recall, a state of arousal can improve general alertness/awareness of the situation and surroundings
• This emotional effect can improve memory encoding

Question 12

What is the Yerks-Dodson law of arousal?

Answer 12

• The Yerks-Dodson law states that conflicting results of recall from witnesses with high anxiety can be explained by:
• Accuracy increasing as anxiety raises due to attention
• This is only to a point at which anxiety becomes too high and more stress results in lower accuracy

Question 13

How does Johnson and Scott’s study support the effect of weapon focus and anxiety on recall?

Answer 13

• Johnson and Scott found that participants were more able to recall a man from a photograph if overhearing a normal conversation then seeing him walking out with a pen and greasy hands (49%) than if the conversation was hostile (Breaking glass) and if the man walked out with a knife and bloody hands (33%)
• This shows the effect of weapon focus and anxiety on recall of a crime scene

Question 14

How does Peters’ study support the effect of weapon focus and anxiety on recall?

Answer 14

• Peters found that participants who visited a healthcare centre were better able to recognise a researcher than a nurse who gave an injection
• This shows the effect of weapon focus as the participants had higher anxiety due to the needle and they tended to focus on that rather than the appearance of the nurse
• This shows the effect of weapon focus in a real-world situation

Question 15

How does Yuille and Cutshall’s study support the theory that anxiety increases the accuracy of recall?

Answer 15

• Yuille and Cutshall interviewed 13 witnesses to a real-life shooting in Canada four months after the crime
• Recall was as high as 88% and those who reported the highest levels of stress at the time gave the most accurate responses
• This suggests anxiety may increase the accuracy of recall
• This opposes findings from lab studies which show that anxiety causes less accurate recall

Question 16

What is an advantage of research on the accuracy of EWT?

Answer 16

-Research on the accuracy of EWT has led to real-life applications such as the development of the cognitive interview

Question 17

How is EWT inaccurate?

Answer 17

• Studies on anxiety and leading questions show that EWT is inaccurate
• Fisher observed the standard interview from police interviews in Florida
• The interviews were quick, direct, used closed questions and they did not represent the witness’s mental representation
• Recall was led by police and witness’s could not talk freely as they were frequently interrupted

Question 18

What did Geiselman’s cognitive interview include?

Answer 18

• Geiselman suggested the cognitive interview which included the following techniques:
• Context reinstatement, mentally returning to the crime scene, this triggers environmental/emotional, contextual cues
• Report everything, all details, even if they seem irrelevant, everything should be reported
• Recall from a changed perspective, considers the perspective of witnesses/perpetrators to disrupt schemas or biases
• Recall in reverse order, switching to different chronology/timelines, this checks the accuracy and challenges expectations

Question 19

What is included in the cognitive interview?

Answer 19

• Context reinstatement
• Report everything
• Recall from a changed perspective
• Recall in a reversed order

Question 20

How was the cognitive interview improved into the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 20

-CI was improved into the enhanced CI, focusing on reducing anxiety and building trust in the interviewer
The modified CI was made also for use with children and people with learning difficulties

Question 21

How did Fisher et al’s study support the cognitive interview and show that it can provide more accurate recall?

Answer 21

• Fisher et al’s conducted a study with 16 detectives in Florida PD
• Two matched pairs groups (Matched on prior interview performance) were used, one was CI trained compared to a control group
• The CI trained group gained 63% more information than the control in subsequent interviews
• This suggests the CI is an effective technique for real police officers in the field

Question 22

How did Memon et al’s metanalysis support the cognitive interview and show that it can provide more accurate recall?

Answer 22

• Memon et al conducted a metanalysis of 57 studies comparing CI, ECI and MCI to control groups
• Memon found that CI groups produced significantly more accurate recall than non-CI interviews, especially with older people

Question 23

What is the MCI?

Answer 23

Modified cognitive interview

Question 24

What is a disadvantage of using the cognitive interview?

Answer 24

• The cognitive interview is time-consuming, it requires more time than officers have operationally available
• Also, it is not effective in improving recognition of suspects in identity parades or photographs
• This limits the use of the CI even if it is effective

Question 25

How does Kohnken’s meta analysis support the cognitive interview?

Answer 25

• In a meta analysis of 42 studies including over 2500 interviews, it was found that the cognitive interview did result in a significant increase in the amount of correct information recalled
• This information may have been crucial in conviction

Question 26

What is a disadvantage of the cognitive interview?

Answer 26

• The CI significantly increased both the amount of correct and incorrect information recalled
• This means that the overall accuracy is similar for the cognitive interview (85%) and the standard interview (82%)

Question 27

What is a disadvantage of the cognitive interview?

Answer 27

-The cognitive interview is not effective for very young children as they are egocentric (They see the world from only their perspective) so they are unable to change perspective