Eyewitness Testimony

Flashcards on Eyewitness Testimony, including factors affecting accuracy and techniques for improving recall.

What is eyewitness testimony (EWT)?

Eyewitness testimony (EWT) refers to the ability of individuals to recall information from something they have seen or observed themselves.

Name four factors that can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (EWT).

Reconstructive memory, leading questions, post-event discussion, and anxiety.

What is confabulation in the context of eyewitness testimony?

The addition of false details to a memory of an event.

What is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions?

Eyewitness misidentification, playing a role in more than 70% of convictions overturned through DNA testing worldwide.

What is reconstructive memory according to Bartlett's theory?

Recall is subject to personal interpretation dependent on our learnt/cultural values and the way we make sense of the world.

What are schemas?

Schemas are mental units of knowledge that correspond to frequently encountered people, objects, or situations and can distort unfamiliar information.

What are leading questions?

Leading questions are any questions that indicate or 'lead' the witness to give a specific or desired answer and are discouraged as they can distort the accuracy of memory.

Give an example of a leading question.

"The perpetrator was wearing a blue hoodie, wasn’t he?" instead of asking for a description.

What is post-event discussion (PED)?

Post-event discussion (PED) involves witnesses of an event discussing it with other co-witnesses, which can change the memory of one or more of the witnesses.

How does anxiety affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?

Anxiety can have both a positive and negative impact on memory recall, as described by the Yerkes-Dodson Law.

What does the Yerkes-Dodson Law state about anxiety and memory recall?

Lower levels of anxiety will produce less accurate recall; memory becomes more accurate as anxiety increases to an optimal level, after which accuracy decreases.

What is the danger of the standard interview technique?

Loftus claims that there is a danger of leading questions which are likely to lead to memory distortion.

What is the Cognitive Interview Technique (CIT)?

The cognitive interview technique (CIT) incorporates psychological research to develop an interview suitable for police investigations; the primary purpose of the interview is achieving the best evidence, or best memory recall.

Name the four main techniques involved in the Cognitive Interview Technique (CIT).

Context reinstatement, in-depth reporting, recall in a different temporal order, and reporting from different perspectives.

What is context reinstatement?

Trying to mentally recreate an image of the situation, including details of the environment and the individual’s emotional state.

What is Tulving’s encoding specificity principle?

Trying to match the eyewitness’ external or internal state to the state experienced at the time of the offense in order to enhance recall.

What is in-depth reporting?

Encouraging the witness to report all the details about the event, even though they may seem unimportant. Memories are interconnected; therefore, recollection of a small item may trigger other memories.

Why is recall in a different temporal order important?

Recalling the events in a different order prevents our pre-existing schema, as well as dishonesty, as it is more difficult for witnesses to give an untruthful account if they reverse it.

What is the purpose of reporting from different perspectives?

To disrupt the effect that schemas have on recall.

What is the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI)?

An interview where the witness is put at ease and allowed to take a dominant role to give as much information as they can, including minimizing distractions and using appropriate eye contact.

How do people store information in memory?

People extract the underlying meaning of information and store it in a way that makes sense to them, rather than storing it exactly as presented initially.

Describe the standard interview technique used with eyewitnesses.

The standard interview technique involves a period of free recall, followed by specific questions, during which the interviewer may interrupt the witness to ask about specific details.

What were some of the changes that were made to create the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI)?

• Minimizing distractions

• Using appropriate eye contact

• Encouraging the eyewitness to relax and speak slowly

• Pausing between responses and the next question

• Following up with interpretative questions

• Avoiding personal and judgmental comments

• Reviewing the witness's description of events.

Is there supporting evidence for Reconstructive Memory?

Yes, Tuckey and Brewer gathered info about people’s bank robbery schema, which included the robbers being male, disguised, wear dark clothes, demand money, and a getaway car. They then asked eyewitnesses to recall the details of a simulated crime and found that they interpretated ambiguous info in a way that made it consistent with their crime schemas. they made errors based on their schema, and not the simulated crime.

How does Reconstructive memory suffer from ethical implications?

Research is socially sensitive, it can positively impact social policy in the criminal justice system as it increases awareness of the threat of