week 7 Flashcards
eyewitness
What are the 3 stages of memory?
encoding, storage and retrieval
Factors that affect Eyewitness Identification
What are Estimator Variables?
Factors related to the event and the eyewitness, beyond legal system control, affecting memory encoding and storage (e.g., stress, viewing quality).
memory
What are System Variables?
Factors controlled by the legal system, such as methods for retrieving and recording eyewitness memory, mainly influencing memory retrieval.
Name some encoding factors that affect memory accuracy.
Stress, weapon presence, change blindness, stereotyping, intoxication, and age.
How can stress positively affect eyewitness memory?
High-stress conditions may improve accuracy and resistance to forgetting, especially for emotional or central details (e.g., Yuille et al., 1994).
How can stress negatively affect eyewitness memory?
High stress can impair memory, reducing accuracy for details and increasing susceptibility to misinformation (e.g., Valentine & Mesout, 2009).
Memory
What is the Yerkes-Dodson law?
It suggests a moderate level of stress enhances performance, while low or high stress reduces memory accuracy.
What is Weapon Focus?
A phenomenon where attention narrows on a weapon, impairing memory for other details of the event.
What is Change Blindness?
Failure to notice changes in an event when attention is distracted or assumptions about continuity are made.
How does stereotyping affect eyewitness memory?
Stereotypes may fill memory gaps, especially under cognitive load, potentially leading to errors.
alchool
How does intoxication influence memory?
Intoxication can narrow focus to central details, but it may impair overall recall and detail retention.
How does age impact eyewitness reliability?
Young adults have the most reliable memories; older adults recall fewer or less accurate details; children’s memory improves with age but may lack accuracy.
What are the factors affecting memory retention (Storage Factors)?
Post-event information, false memories, delay, and emotional/traumatic memories.
What is the Misinformation Effect?
A phenomenon where post-event information, such as discussions with other witnesses, alters a person’s memory of the event.
What was the Loftus et al. (1978) study on misinformation?
Participants viewed a car accident slide show, were given misleading (e.g., yield sign) or consistent (stop sign) information, and later tested on memory accuracy. 57% of misled participants reported seeing the false detail.
What are false memories?
Memories for events that did not occur, potentially implanted through suggestion, imagination, or therapy (e.g., Loftus & Pickrell, 1995, “Lost in the shopping mall”).
How does delay affect memory?
Memory decays rapidly over time, but repeated testing can slow this decay and improve retention.
What factors influence memory retrieval?
Question format, suggestive questioning, retrieval enhancement techniques, confidence, and the accuracy-informativeness trade-off.
How can suggestive questioning affect eyewitness memory?
Leading questions (e.g., Loftus & Palmer, 1974) can distort memory, such as altering speed estimates and perceptions of details like broken glass.
What is the role of confidence in eyewitness memory?
Confidence can predict accuracy but involves a trade-off between reporting detailed information and ensuring correctness.
What is the Cognitive Interview?
A retrieval enhancement technique that helps witnesses recall events more accurately by focusing on context and detail (Fisher & Geiselman, 1992).
Why is conducting an interview demanding and difficult for interviewers?
Pressure to solve a case.
Managing distracting conditions.
Handling cognitively taxing tasks (e.g., taking notes, thinking of follow-up questions).
Why is conducting an interview challenging for witnesses?
Differences in social and cognitive abilities.
Potential stress.
Hesitancy to disclose information.
What are the shortcomings(mancanze) of traditional investigative interviews?
- Little rapport-building.
- Use of complex questions/language.
- Rigid, pre-scripted questions and suggestive/leading questions.
- Lack of tailoring to developmental, social, or cognitive abilities
What are the components of the Cognitive Interview (CI)?
- Social Dynamics: Establish rapport, promote active participation.
- Cognitive Processes: Encourage recall using techniques like storytelling backward or context reinstatement.
- Communication: encourage elaborate responding and use of non verbal tec
What factors affect children’s interview performance?
- Vocabulary limitations.
- Narrative ability.
- Conceptual understanding (e.g., time perception).
- Hesitance to indicate misunderstanding.
- Source monitoring errors.
- Susceptibility to suggestibility.
What is the Memorandum of Good Practice (MOGP)?
- Developed in 1992 by UK Home Office.
- Provides guidelines for eliciting credible testimony from children using open-ended prompts and narrative accounts.
- Focuses on rapport building and phased interview approaches.
What are the types of questions used in child interviews?
- Invitation: Open-ended, e.g., “Tell me everything that happened.”
- Cued Invitation: Focuses on details already mentioned, e.g., “You said he touched you. Tell me more.”
- Directive: WH-questions about already mentioned info, e.g., “What color was his shirt?”
- Option Posing: Introduces options, e.g., “Did it hurt?”
- Suggestive: Implies information, e.g., “He wanted you to kiss him, didn’t he?”
What is the NICHD protocol for child interviews?
1.Pre-Substantive Phase:
* Introduce rules and rapport building.
* Practice narratives to help recall details.
2.Transitional Phase:
* Identify the target event using open-ended prompts.
3.Substantive Phase:
* Exhaust free recall before using directive or option-posing questions.
* Avoid suggestive/leading questions.
What solutions exist for improving investigative interviews?
- Use structured, evidence-based protocols like the NICHD protocol.
- Train interviewers extensively and regularly.
- Conduct ongoing professional development.
Why do deviations from best practices occur in child interviews?
Difficulty adhering to protocols.
Lack of training or awareness of errors.
