Memory - eyewitness testimony – misleading information Flashcards
What is an eyewitness?
Someone who has seen or witnessed to crime usually present at the time of the incident.
They use their memory of the crime to give their testimony or reconstruction of what happened.
What is an eyewitness testimony?
The evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime with a view to identifying the perpetrator.
What is the process of eyewitness testimony?
- The witness and codes into LTM details of the event encoding may only be partial or distorted.
- The witness retains the information for a period of time memories may be lost or modified during this time.
- The witness retrieves the memory from storage.
What is misleading information?
A key factor that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. It is when incorrect information is given to an eyewitness following an event.
Can come in two forms post event discussion or leading questions.
What was Loftus and Palmers study into leading questions?
They conducted experiment to investigate the effect of leading questions on the accuracy of the eyewitness testimony.
45 American students were divided into five groups of nine they all watched a video of a car crash. They were then asked a specific question about the speed of the car. Loftus and Palmer manipulated the verb used in the question e.g. collided bumped smashed hit contacted. In a separate sample 150 subject three equal groups were either asked if the cars smashed or hit one week later subjects were asked if they saw any broken glass.
What were the results of Loftus and Palmer study into leading questions?
They found that the estimated speed was affected by the verb used participants who were given the verbs smashed reported and average speed of 40.5 mph. When participants who were given the word contacted reported an average speed of 31.8 mph. 32% of those who saw smashed indoors having seen broken glass compared to 14% and 12% in the other groups.
What was the conclusion of Loftus and Palmer study into leading questions?
The results clearly show that the accuracy of eyewitness testimony is affected by leading questions and that’s a single word in a question can significantly affect the accuracy of our judgements. This appears to be due to the leading question creating a false memory.
Give a strength of research into eyewitness testimony (leading questions).
Real world applications in the criminal justice system - the consequences of inaccurate eyewitness testimonies are serious. Loftus argued police officers should be careful in phrasing questions to witnesses because of distorting effects - so psychologist are called as expert witnesses in trials and explain the limits of our witness testimonies to the juries - psychologist can improve how the legal system works and protect innocent from faulty convictions based on unreliable EWT.
What is the limitation of Loftus and Palmer study?
The lack of ecological validity of the study may not support generalisation from the sample to the target population -questioning participants about every day event like car crash appears to be a genuine measure of eyewitness testimony. The participants watched a video of a car crash and witnessed the event unfold from the start to finish - however, in every day report witnesses rarely see the whole event lacking mundane realism - therefore the results do not reflect every day car accidents.
What is post event discussion?
When witnesses discuss the details of a crime accident following an incident.
What was Gabbert study into post-event discussion?
To investigate the effect of post event discussion on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
60 students from university of Aberdeen and 60 adults from a local community participants watched a video of a girl stealing money from a wallet. The participants were the tested individually or in pairs. The participants in the co-witness group were told that they had watched the same video however they had in fact seeing different perspectives of the same crime and only one person had actually witnessed the girl stealing, participants in the witness group discussed crime together all completed a questionnaire testing their memory of the event.
What was the findings of Gabbert study into post – event discussion?
– 71% of the witnesses in the co-witness group recorded information they had not actually seen.
– 60% said that the girl was guilty despite the fact they had not seen her commit a crime.
What was the conclusion of Gabbart study into post-event discussion?
These results highlight the issue of post event discussion and the powerful effect this can have on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.
What is memory contamination?
When co-witnesses discuss a crime they mix misinformation from other witnesses with their own memories.
What is memory conformity?
Witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses were right.
