Forensic Vocab CH 1 Flashcards
What a person perceives using their senses:
Observation
Describe what changes occur in the brain while observing:
Information from our senses, what we pay attention to, perception, shot-term memory, long-term memory
Describe examples of factors influencing eyewitness accounts of events:
Level of interest, stress/emotional state, bias, and motives are just some of the factors that influence eyewitness accounts
Compare the reliability of eyewitness testimony to what actually happened:
Minds are susceptible to change and memory fades over time and can be unreliable.
Relate observation skills to their use in forensics:
Help you carefully analyze the scene, turning off your filter, and using patterns
The ability to identify a concept or problem and isolate the parts, to organize the information to make an informed decision:
Analytical Skills
Deriving the answer from the facts using a series of logical steps:
Deductive Reasoning
A person who has seen someone or something and can communicate these facts:
Eyewitness
A statement of information that can be verified:
Fact
Relating to the application of scientific knowledge and legal questions:
Forensic
Interpreting information received from the senses:
Perception
What we perceive about persons depends, in part, on their:
Mannerisms or gestures
We gather information every single moment about what is around us through our:
Senses
Our ______ state influences our ability to see and hear what is happening around us.
Emotional
The first task of forensic scientists is:
find, examine and evaluate evidence from a crime scene
One of the most important tools of the forensic investigator is the ability to:
Observe, interpret, and report observations clearly.
Criminal investigations depend on the observation skills of all involved. Those involved include:
Police investigators, forensic scientists, and the eyewitness
The purpose of the Innocence Project was to reexamine post-conviction cases (individuals convicted and in prison) using:
DNA Evidence
Forensic derives from the Latin word, forensis, which means:
of the forum
A psychologist who has spent the last 50 years studying faces, Paul Ekman is a leading expert on:
Facial analysis and deception
Paul Ekman’s early research led to a major discovery that changed how scientists view human expression. He found that our expressions are:
Biologically programed
The verbal testimony of a forensic scientist alone may not be entered into evidence without:
proper documentation
Whether observing at a crime scene or examining collected evidence in the laboratory, the forensic examiner must be able to:
idedtify the evidence, record it, and determine it’s significance
When evaluating eyewitness testimony, the investigator must discriminate between fact and:
Opinion
To ensure all evidence is found, a crime scene is often laid out in a:
Grid
An interesting aspect of our perception is that we:
believe what we see and hear even though our ability to be accurate is flawed
Eyewitness accounts of crime-scene events vary considerably from one person to another. What you observe depends on your level of:
interest, stress,concentration, and the amount and kind of distraction that may be present.
Reasoning from facts is :
logicol analysis
What a person perceives using his or her senses is an :
Observation
When a witness describes what they thought happened, they are providing a(n)
Opinion
Interpreting information received from the senses is a
Perception
Deriving a conclusion from the facts using a series of logical steps is
deductive Reasoning
In a memory test, such as the serial-position graph, the highest correct recall occurs at the beginning and the end of the list (without distraction). Explain why this occurs.
Because of primacy and recency effect
