Credability of Eyewitness Testimony Essay

The linking of new information with existing memories as well as knowledge is known as elaborative encoding (Coon & Mitterer, 2012). This is carried out through rehearsal. It is stated that the more something is rehearsed, the easier it is for it to be recognized (Hoeksema., et al, 2009). Through rehearsal, information is integrated with what one already knows, thus making it more memorable (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012). Elaboration is a vital part of studying effectively. This is the factor that enables material to be stored into long term memory (Goldstein, 2008). If new information is linked to information that was previously already stored in the long term memory, through elaboration, it becomes increasing easier for one to remember the new information (Coon & Mitterer, 2008). Thus when one studies something that he is already familiar with he

‘The language used in eyewitness testimony can alter an individual’s memory’, the Loftus and Palmer study was carried out to test that hypothesis. Two experiments were carried out within the study. The study had a quasi-experimental design. Experiment one involved forty-five students participates, the participants were shown various films of automobile accidents, after the participants viewed the films they were questioned about what they have just seen. A number of questions specific to the automobile accident were presented in a questionnaire to the participants, however the question contained a paramount question of interest, this being

Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate, therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. Discuss.

Affect influences many areas of cognition and has a large impact on memory (Robinson, Watkins, & Harmon-Jones, 2013; Packard, Cahill, & McGaugh, 1994). It has been shown that extreme emotional stress can impair memory, while moderate levels of emotional stress can improve learning and memory (Packard et al., 1994). In humans, emotional content is remembered better than non-emotional content and is richer in details (Choi, Kensinger, & Rajaram, 2013). However, it is not totally clear how emotion influences false memories. Past research has examined the effect of emotion on false memories and has reported mixed findings where emotional intensity has increased and decreased false memory (Choi et al., 2013). Storbeck and Clore (2005) found definite results showing that negative emotional affect reduces false memories in adults. The goal of this research is to investigate how positive and negative affective states influence false memory in children and the effect of emotional regulation strategies on memory formation.

A false memory is simply a memory that did not occur. An actual experience can become distorted as best illustrated by the Cog Lab experiment on false memories accessed through Argosy University. The experiment is outlined as follows: a participant is given a list of words that are highly relative in nature at a rate of about one word every 2 seconds. At the finish of the given list, the participant is then shown a list of words in which he or she is to recall the words from the original list. A special distractor is inserted to the list, and this word, although highly relative in nature, was not in the original list. For example, the

Eyewitness testimony has long been viewed as important evidence in court cases. The general population believes eyewitness identification more than any other evidence, even if the witness account is conflicting with the other evidence presented. Studies show that eyewitness testimony is unreliable, and yet it is still considered the most important form of evidence. People think that if a person says they saw something then it must have happened. Currently there are no universal guidelines on how to obtain and present such evidence. The purpose of this paper is to explain why eyewitness testimony is unreliable, and discuss the proposed guidelines on how law enforcement agencies should gather identifications, as well how

Eyewitness identification commonly involves selecting possible suspects from a police lineup or a police sketch. Eyewitnesses are encouraged to compose a statement, after selecting a subject. At the trial, months or even years later, witnesses share what happened in court. Eyewitnesses with psychological disorders, such as substance dependence or antisocial personality disorder, are at a higher risk for criminal involvement and false identifications. Although a few eyewitness reports are correct, jurors should not welcome them without further evidence. Jurors frequently grant extra weight to the eyewitness account who report with confidence, however studies show that confident eyewitnesses are at times only slightly more accurate than those

In sum, we can conclude that eyewitness memory still hold important place in investigation and prosecution process yet it is flawed. Based on research that I reviewed in this paper, there are several aspects that important to enhance eyewitness memory such as the repetition and precision-accuracy trade off. In contrast there are some factors that can threatens quality of memory such as such as avoiding co-witness situation, less focus on the confidence level to measure accuracy and delayed effect. These factors need to be prioritize to create a better environment to recall accurate information.

In experiment 1 with the recall test for all trials, subjects remembered more negative words. Recall of positive words increased after each trial, but less than recall of negative words. The recall of neutral words did not improve at all. These results indicate that emotional memory recall is greater than for neutral memory recall, and that people tend to remember more negative things. An emotionally arousing word or experience enhanced the brain to recall events better than for neutral words because the amygdala was stimulated by emotions, mainly negative feelings. The amygdala enhanced the consolidation and encoding of memory for emotionally arousing situations; therefore, influencing performance (Buchanan 2007). Subjects recalled arousing events with greater accuracy than those without an emotional stimuli. This experiment could be improved by having more subjects to get a better representation. Also if wanting to test how current mood affects memory, subjects could be asked to take a survey about how they are feeling and seeing if a person feeling positive remembers more positive words or if a person feeling negative recalls more negative

Eyewitness may have huge impact on the court decision. Witness testimony only relies on human memory. The memory of witness is very important not only in criminals identification but in civil cases as well. For instance, in car accident, eyewitness testimony plays great role in determining who is in fault. In many cases eyewitness played crucial role in court's outcomes. But there is also great risks of relying only on witness identification because, in fact, human memory is far from perfect or in another word permanent. Forgetfulness of human life is a natural fact.

Whenever a crime takes place, eyewitnesses who are present on the scene can help the police or authorities when the crime is being investigated. However, eyewitness memory can be affected by a series of factors.

The witness claims to be approximately 40 years old and testified that he understands Dari and Pashto, but can read very little. He has lived in the house that he currently lives in most of his life and there are currently thirty-four people living on the family compound, which has four houses on it. Their father who died approximately ten years ago at the age of 65 owned the family compound. Their father suffered from Diabetes, high blood pressure and “heart problems”. Their mother died approximately 25 years ago of “shortness of breath.” According to the witness, none of the other family members have any illnesses.

Researchers are constantly looking for shortcuts that will enhance the way humans are able to recall new and existing information. Memory is a complicated process that relies on a series of conditions and stimuli for further processing. The complexity of memory has led to a wide range of research. In particular, the impact of emotion-provoked memory is profound, with many possible implications in education, marketing, entertainment, and politics (Schmidt, 1994).

When the witness is finished, the interviewer returns to specific aspects of the account to ask more question. Finally, the interviewer summarizes for the witness what was said. Prentiss takes an additional step, which is not necessarily part of a typical cognitive interview, by inducing a light trance that will link the girl’s memory holistically to its original context, including both sensory and cognitive components. This raises the issue of forensic hypnosis and the Encoding Specificity Principle.

In conclusion, after evaluating the various studies, we can agree that emotions do in fact effect our memory. Based off of the “flashbulb memory” theory, it is explained how our vivid and detailed emotions can prevent us from factually remembering what happened and that our memory (because of this emotions) can change over