PSYC2361 Episode 2: Memory Reliability and Eyewitness Evidence

Flashcards covering memory reliability in forensic psychology, focusing on the George W. Bush case study, memory stages, the misinformation effect, and forensic interviewing techniques like the Cognitive Interview.

Brigham and Bothwell Study Results

Prospective jurors estimated identification accuracy to be between $51\%$ and $71\%$, whereas actual participant accuracy was significantly lower, between $13\%$ and $32\%$.

Wrong time-slice error

A memory error suggested by Daniel Greenberg where people retrieve memories of an event from a completely different time, often due to the dominance of visual imagery from sources like TV footage.

Confidence-Accuracy Relationship (Pezdek Study)

A study showing that participants (including $76\%$ of New Yorkers) who incorrectly claimed to see $9/11$ footage on September 11th were more confident in their answers than those who were correct, indicating confidence is an unreliable cue for accuracy.

Narrative construction

The process of filling gaps in a memory by reconstructing the story based on a script or general idea of what usually happens in a situation.

Encoding

The first stage of memory where an eyewitness actually acquires a memory of an incident.

Storage

The second stage of memory regarding whether a memory remains intact over time.

Retrieval

The final stage of memory regarding whether an individual can successfully report a memory at a future date.

Subjective reconstruction

The concept that human perception is not an objective reality but an elaborate reconstruction created by the brain interpreting sensory information.

Weapon Focus Effect

The impairment of a witness's memory for a criminal's physical appearance because attention is drawn toward a weapon and away from the face.

Transport Research Laboratory Forgetting Data

Geoff Maycock and Julia Lester found that drivers appear to forget approximately $30\%$ of the car crashes they have been involved in per year.

The Misinformation Effect

The phenomenon where stored memories are interfered with or modified by introducing false information via post-event sources like media reports or other witnesses.

Forensic Hypnosis

An altered state of consciousness used by some law enforcement to improve witness recall, though it often increases suggestibility and the reporting of false memories.

False Positive

A memory outcome where an eyewitness incorrectly recalls a detail as being correct when it is actually incorrect.

Context Reinstatement

An intervention where memory is improved by mentally or physically recreating the environmental and internal context present during the original event.

The Cognitive Interview (CI)

A procedural interview developed by Edward Fisher and Ronald GEIselman using cognitive psychology principles to maximize witness recall.

Encoding Specificity Principle

A principle by Endel Tulving stating that memory retrieval is more effective when there is significant informational overlap between retrieval cues and the context in which the memory was stored.

Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI)

A version of the cognitive interview that incorporates additional communication skills and exists in $9$ distinct phases, including rapport building and transfer of control.

The four original cognitive mnemonics

1. Report everything; 2. Mental reinstatement of context; 3. Change perspective; 4. Change order.

Category Clustering Recall

A retrieval strategy suggested by Paulo and colleagues where witnesses organize recall into broad information categories: person, object, location, action, conversation, and sound.

The Cognitive Interview Superiority Effect

A finding from laboratory and field studies showing that cognitive interview techniques reliably elicit significantly more correct details (ranging from $25\%$ to over $47\%$) than standard police interviews.