Memory Accuracy and The Cognitive Interview

These flashcards cover the key concepts and studies related to memory accuracy, the influences on memory recall, and the cognitive interview technique.

What is the main issue with the accuracy of memories when retrieving them?

Memories may be reconstructed, leading to inaccuracies and potential false memories.

What are false memories?

Memories of events that did not actually happen.

What factor influences memory retrieval through pre-existing knowledge?

Schemas can help fill in missing gaps but may also lead to inaccuracies.

What are 'leading questions'?

Questions that suggest a particular answer and can influence recall, leading to inaccuracies.

How can post-event discussions affect memory accuracy?

They can influence how individuals remember events based on others' expectations and interpretations.

How does anxiety influence memory accuracy according to the lecture?

Moderate anxiety can improve memory accuracy, while high anxiety can decrease it.

Describe Loftus and Palmer’s car crash study.

They conducted a lab study investigating how accurately participants could recall a video of a car crash, asking participants leading questions about how the car crashed using intense verbs like “smashed”. Few weeks later they were asked about if they saw broken glass, in reality there was no broken glass.

What did Loftus and Palmer's 1974 study demonstrate about eyewitness testimony?

Leading questions can alter participants' recollections of an event. When they used more intense verbs they influenced the participants memory of how fast the cars were going and mentioning broken glass led to a false memory

Limitations of the Loftus and Palmer study.

• demand characteristics (particpants just thought thats what they just had to say)

• lack of ecological validity (a real life event could have caused participants to pay more attention and try harder to give more accurate answers).

Describe Loftus pen and knife experiment.

He conducted an experiment based the effect of anxiety on memory accuracy. participants watched a man leave the room with either a pen or a knife and then wer asked to recall the mans face.

What was a significant finding in Loftus's 1979 anxiety study?

Participants who saw a violent incident remembered less accurately than those who saw a non-violent incident. supporting the idea that high anxiety has a negative effect on memory.

What did Yuille and Cutshall's 1986 study conclude about anxiety and memory?

Witnesses to a real event (gun shooting) five months earlier had good memory accuracy, suggesting anxiety's effect is complex, which goes against the inverted U curve for anxiety

What is the cognitive interview technique?

An interview method aimed at improving eyewitness recall through specific components.

What is the purpose of mental reinstatement in cognitive interviews?

To help witnesses recall thoughts and feelings at the time of the event helping witnesses find internal and external cues that help trigger memory.

What is the 'change of perspective' technique in cognitive interviews?

Asking witnesses to recall an event from another person's view to reduce reliance on their schema and prevent reinterpreting memories.

How does changing the narrative order benefit eyewitness recall?

Witnesses are asked to remember the event in a different chronological order. It reduces the 'serial position effect'.

How does recall of every detail benefit eyewitness recall?

It can trigger internal and external cues and help remember key details and so they dont miss out key details.

Describe Geiselmann’s blue rucksack study.

Geiselmann created a staged situation in a lecture where an intruder with a blue rucksack entered the classroom and stole a slide projector. Geiselmann then compared the effect of leading questions on participants' recall using the cognitive interview and standard interview technique.

What were the findings of Geiselmann’s study?

students interviewed withe the cognitive interview were less likely to misled into remembering the colour of the rucksack as green. making witnesses less susceptible to leading questions compared to standard interviews.

What modification was made to the cognitive interview for interviewing children?

The enhanced cognitive interview (by Geiselman and Fischer) focuses on building trust and giving the witness more control, encouraged not to guess and to say when thyre unsure.