Eyewitness

Testimony
 memory
• When we retrieve it. We are recreating it and filling in the holes.
• If we are able to chunk info together, the better we do. For ex: the Canadian
T.V show example in class… Canadian V.S non Canadians. for studying if you
remember the idea related to the header, you'll do better.
• Desse-Roediger-McDermot Effect: is a false memory paradigm in which
subjects are presented with lists of semantically related words (e.g., nurse,
hospital, etc.) at encoding. After a delay, subjects are asked to recall or
recognize these words. In the recognition memory version of the task,
subjects are asked whether they remember previously presented words, as
well as related (but never presented) critical lure words ('doctor'). Typically,
the critical word is recognized with high probability and confidence.
What is Eyewitness Testimony?
Eyewitness testimony is what happens when a person
witnesses a crime (or accident, or other legally important
event) and later gets up on the stand and recalls for the court
all the details of the witnessed event
It is one of the most critical testimony.
Ronald and Jennifer case: accused him of rape and then DNA
evidence proved otherwise 10 years later
 Misinformation
Misinformation effect – Occurs when incorrect information obtained
after an event contaminates our memory of that event.

watched a slideshow depicting a small red car driving and then hitting a pedestrian. Some subjects were then asked
leading questions about what had happened in the slides. For example, subjects were asked, “How fast was the car
traveling when it passed the yield sign?” But this question was actually designed to be misleading, because the original
slide included a stop sign rather than a yield sign.
Later, subjects were shown pairs of slides. One of the pair was the original slide containing the stop sign; the other was
a replacement slide containing a yield sign. Subjects were asked which of the pair they had previously seen. Subjects
who had been asked about the yield sign were likely to pick the slide showing the yield sign, even though they had
originally seen the slide with the stop sign. In other words, the misinformation in the leading question led to inaccurate
memory.
This phenomenon is called the misinformation effect, because the misinformation that subjects were exposed to after
the event (here in the form of a misleading question) apparently contaminates subjects’ memories of what they
Misinformation
Not always intentional
Memory can be corrupted/manterrupted
even more in social situations
Talking to other witnesses might alter it too
 Identifying Perpetrators
Factors Increasing Errors In crimes
 Poor Vision… ex: glasses
 Poor Viewing Conditions… ex: night time
 Stress
 Short Viewing Time… ex: car accident or hit n run
 Delay… huge problem… the better the person might feel,
but misinformation and retrorespective error.
 Different Race… Ex: get a white guy to identify a type of
Asian vs. getting an Asian guy to identify the type of Asian
In most jurisdictions in the United States, lineups are typically conducted with pictures, called photo spreads, rather
than with actual people standing behind one-way glass. One of these individuals is the police suspect, and the
remainder are “foils” or “fillers” (people known to be innocent). If the eyewitness identifies the suspect, then the
investigation of that suspect is likely to progress. If a witness identifies a foil or no one, then the police may choose
to move their investigation in another direction.
A lineup: lineup of suspects or a suspect along side plants (people who look similar but are innocent). They can fail
 Kinds of Memory
Biases
Tip-of-the-Tongue Effect
When we try to remember something but you cant
really get it.
In court you have to have 100% confidence or else
they wont believe you even if your 98% sure…
however, as we see… no one can have 100% certainty
Schemata
We have mental templates that help us fill in the gaps and
things. For what things look like and what they do. Ex:
when you walk into a new room and see a chair. They tend
to evolve over time. Ex: a infant seeing a chair for the first
time. Ex: you see stalks and rows of books with tables and
chair. You know what that place is and how to act
you are more likely to remember things that are consistent
with your schema rather than counter to your schema
When we have tip of the tongue effect we might fill it in
with schemata.
For most of our experiences schematas are a benefit and
help with information overload. However, they may make
it difficult or impossible to recall certain details of a
situation later. Do you recall the library as it actually was or
the library as approximated by your library schemata?
False Memory
False Memories – Large memory errors in which events are recalled
that never took place.
 Conclusion
 Witness Interviews: don’t provide misinformation

 Lineup Construction: sub sequential ordering, pictures

 Educating Jury Members: important effects to notify jury

 Educating Other Assessors: everyone in the system