Memory- Eyewitness Testimony

Question 1

What is eyewitness testimony?

Answer 1

Evidence provided by people who witnessed a particular event or crime

Question 2

What does eyewitness testimony rely on?

Answer 2

Recall from memory

Question 3

What might eyewitness testimony include?

Answer 3

Descriptions of criminals and crime scenes

Question 4

What is a problem with eyewitness testimony?

Answer 4

Witnesses are often inaccurate in their recollection of events and the people involved

Question 5

What are leading questions?

Answer 5

A question where a certain answer is implied in the question

Question 6

What was Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 6

• Participants shown a film of a car crash
• Asked a series of questions including ‘how fast do you think the cars were going when they hit?’
• Different conditions, ‘hit’ replaced with ‘smashed’, ‘collided’, ‘bumped’ or ‘contacted’

Question 7

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 7

• ‘Smashed’ made participants estimate the highest speed

- ‘Contacted’ gave the lowest estimate

Question 8

What was Loftus and Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 8

• Participants split into 3 groups
• Group 1 given word ‘smashed’, group 2 ‘hit’, group 3 not given any indication of speed of the cars
• Asked a week later if they saw any broken glass

Question 9

What were the results of Loftus and Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 9

No broken glass in the film but participants more likely to say that there was if given the word ‘smashed’

Question 10

What was the conclusion from Loftus and Palmer’s experiments?

Answer 10

Leading questions can affect the accuracy of people’s memories of an event

Question 11

What is the evaluation from Loftus and Palmer’s experiments?

Answer 11

• Artificial experiment
• May lead to demand characteristics
• Reduced validity and reliability

Question 12

What can affect the accuracy of recall?

Answer 12

Leading questions, post-event discussion and anxiety

Question 13

What effect does anxiety have on focus?

Answer 13

Small increases of anxiety and arousal may increase accuracy of memory but high levels can have a negative effect on accuracy

Question 14

How are people expected to focus in violent crimes?

Answer 14

On central details (a weapon) and neglect peripheral details (eg. what the criminal was wearing)

Question 15

What was Loftus’ study on weapon focus?

Answer 15

• Independent groups design
• Participant heard discussion in a nearby room
• Low anxiety condition- man came out holding pen with grease on hands
• High anxiety condition- man came out holding bloody knife
• Participants asked to identify man

Question 16

What were the results of Loftus’ study?

Answer 16

Low anxiety condition was 49% accurate and high anxiety condition was 33% accurate

Question 17

What was the conclusion from Loftus’ study?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What is the evaluation from Loftus’ study?

Answer 18

• High ecological validity

- Ethical issues

Question 19

What was Yuille and Cutshall’s study?

Answer 19

• Thief was shot and killed by police and interviewed witnesses
• 13 witnesses re-interviewed 5 months later, recall found to be highly accurate
• 2 misleading questions but found to have no effect

Question 20

What is the evaluation from Yuille and Cutshall’s study?

Answer 20

• High ecological validity

- Difficult to determine whether proximity or stress contributed to accuracy of recall

Question 21

What are the 4 aspects of cognitive interview?

Answer 21

Report everything, reinstate the context, change perspective, reverse the order

Question 22

Who developed the cognitive interview?

Answer 22

Geiselman et al