Cognitive Debate Flashcards
(6 cards)
weapon focus- EWT reliable
Yuille and Cutshall Canadian research of man trying to rob a gun shop. Police interview witnesses again 4 weeks later, recall great detail, high agreement, no alter in response despite 2 misleading questions.
weapon focus- EWT unreliable
Loftus and Palmer test weapon focus on EWT recall in 2 conditions either gun or bill. Eye movement moitored, lineup of 12, bill more accurate than gun when identifying. This shows weapons…
child EWT reliable
davies et al 1989 stated 6-7 year olds and 10-11 year olds fairly accurate, dont deliberately lie. memory not greatly altered by adult suggestion. Anastasi 2006 provides agreeing research, concluding children especially accurate when identifying those their own age.
Child EWT unreliable
Pozzulo and Lindsay, under 5s less reliable than older children when accurately choosing target from lineup. When target not present in lineup, younger witness more likely to give false identification. Eco implication- save money not needing pay compensation for false conviction- up to £1m if prison 10+ years.
Flashbulb memories- EWT reliable
show how emotion can indicate relibaility of EWT. Brown and Kulik 1977 described them as vivid, enduring memories associated with personally significant and emotional event, often including details such as where/what doing during the event. These can enhance reliability of EWT, flashbulb memories must: elicit elevated surprise, have significant level importance, heightened emotional response.
Inverted U theory- EWT unreliable
low levels anxiety means cognitive performance (memory accuracy) is relatively low. As anxiety levels increase so will cognitive performance until it reaches optimal level, after which, any further anxiety will reduce cognitive performance. This can predict that stressful events such as being the witness or victim of crime makes memory recall unreliable as less accurate cognitive performance.
