Eyewitness Testimony Flashcards
(31 cards)
Kebbell and Milne
eyewitness testimony almost always provides the key investigative leads
Wolchover
the prosecution often regards witness testimony as more important than an offenders confession
cutler
eyewitness testimony is relied heavily on by jurors
three stages of memory
encoding, storage, retrieval
brainerd
fuzzy trace theory
there are two types of memory gist and verbatim
gist memory is stronger than verbatim
wells
variables that affect eyewitness memory
estimator- beyond police control
system variables- interview technique, id procedures
estimator variables
ADVOKATE
time, distance, visibility, obstructions, known, errors
weapon focus effect
if faced with a weapon memories in the rest of the scene were less details
what are central details for witness and police
witnesses, things that help them make sence of the event
police, things that help them catch the perp
Christianson
memory for central details better than peripheral
Talarico
people remember more peripheral details in positive events than negative ones
how does emotion effect memory
easterbrook- cue utilisation theory, attention narrowing
Christianson- emotional memory process differently
retrieval issues
omission errors- details that the witness leaves out of their testimony
errors of commission-
details that did not happen but the witness includes
The effects of delay
turtle
participants who recalled event 3 weeks later recalled 43% less than immediate recall group
Tuckey
over time schema-consistent and schema-inconsistent details are remembered better than schema irrelevant ones
Yuille
more recall and more accurate after 12 weeks if they experienced an interview at week 1
suggestibility
leading question leads to suggestible response
Loftus
asked participants either, contacted, hit, bumped, collided or smashed
participants estimates of speed differed to what word was used
participants who were in the smashed condition were more likely to say there was broken glass at the scene when there was none
compliance
if the interviewee doesn’t believe the leading question but says it anyway
delayed suggestibility
exposed to misleading information after the fact
conformity
talks to other witnesses includes their information
Paterson
looking at eyewitness accuracy after post event misinformation
co witness discussion only 21% accurate
leading questions 43% accurate
response bias
witnesses choose an answer they know is wrong to make the interviewer happy
Echterhoff
memory alteration
loftus
the original memory is overwritten with the misinformed detail