2 Memory- Factors affecting EWT

Question 1

what is EWT?

Answer 1

it is often relied upon in courts of law to determine a suspects innocence or guilt

Question 2

why has EWT been deemed as sometimes inaccurate?

Answer 2

new forensic evidence had come to light, meaning people have been wrongly convicted
-research into this is vital to ensure court cases only use accurate EWT evidence

Question 3

two main factors that influence how accurate EWT is?

Answer 3

misleading information (leading questions and post event discussion)
anxiety

Question 4

how can misleading information influence how accurate EWT is?

Answer 4

EWT is affected by experiences occurring after a witnessed event

Question 5

two types of misleading information

Answer 5

leading questions
post-event discussion

Question 6

leading questions

Answer 6

one which leads or persuades a person towards giving a particular response
how the question is ‘framed’- influencing an eyewitness’s memory of an event- may be more likely to recall info that aligns with the response a question implies

Question 7

what two things can leading questions lead to?

Answer 7

• helps an individual make a judgement with regard to something ambiguous in their memory
• distort or change someone’s memory of an event

Question 8

who conducted research into leading questions?

Answer 8

Loftus and Palmer (1974)
-two studies

Question 9

describe the aim of Loftus and Palmer’s first study

Answer 9

to investigate whether speed estimates (cars) could be influenced by leading questions

Question 10

procedure of Loftus and Palmer’s first study

Answer 10

-45 uni students shown video clips of car crashes in laboratory
-asked the question : About how fast were the cars going when they ____ into each other?
-the verb varied (smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted)
-ppts speed estimates were recorded

Question 11

findings of Loftus and Palmer’s first study

Answer 11

as the intensity of the verb used increased, the speed estimates for the cars also increased.
contacted: 31.9 mph
smashed: 40.8 mph

Question 12

conclusion for Loftus and Palmer’s first study

Answer 12

this shows that misleading information in the form of leading questions can affect memory recall of eyewitnesses

Question 13

describe Loftus and Palmer’s second study

Answer 13

• 150 ppts were separated into 3 groups and all viewed a video of a car crash
  -50 asked the key question with smashed
  -50 asked key question with hit
  -50 in a control group who weren’t asked question at all
  they were questioned a week later about the crash, critical question was: did you see any broken glass?

Question 14

findings of Loftus and Palmer’s second study

Answer 14

smashed verb group: 16/50 answered YES
hit verb group: 7/50 answered YES
control group: 6/50 answered YES
- the intense verb implied there was broken glass although there wasn’t

Question 15

conclusions of Loftus and Palmer’s second study

Answer 15

this shows that the content or form of leading questions can alter one’s memory of an event
response-bias explanation: leading questions don’t distort or change memory, they change our choice of answer
substitution bias explanation: the wording of a question can distort or change our memory of an event

Question 16

leading questions A03
Supporting Studies

Answer 16

Loftus and Palmer p1
E- intensity of verb changed when given to ppts asked how fast cars were travelling (S,C,B,H,C)- speed was higher than control group on avg
E- demonstrates that the intensity of verbs used in questions can impact ppts perceptions of how fast the car was travelling in mph