factors affecting recall

• what is eyewitness testimony?

  ability of people to remember details of events they have seen
• what are the 2 parts that amount to misleading information?

  1. leading questions
  2. post-event discussion
• outline leading questions

  wording of a question alters a person's recall of an event
• who studied the effect of leading questions?

  Loftus and Palmer in 1974
• explain Loftus & Palmer's study

  • showed participants a film of a car accident and then asked them questions
  • "how fast were the cars going when they hit each other"
  • when hit was changed to smashed = estimated speed of 40.5 mph
  • when hit was changed to contacted = estimated speed of 31.8 mph
• what were the 2 explanations for the effect of leading questions?

  1. response-bias explanation
  2. substitution explanation
• outline response-bias explanation

  phrasing of a question suggested an answer
• outline substitution explanation

  question changes the witness's memory
• what is post-event discussion?

  after an event, witnesses discuss what they have seen, resulting in distortion of their own memory
• who studied the effect of post-event discussion?

  Gabbert et al in 2003
• explain Gabbert et al's study about post-event discussions

  participants watched different videos of the same event

  • condition 1 - discuss event before recall
  • condition 2 - didn't discuss event

  71% mistakenly recalled when there was a discussion

  0% mistakenly recalled when there was no discussion
• define memory conformity

  witnesses join memories together to win social approval or because they believe that the witnesses are right
• misleading information weakness - alternative explanation

  • Bartlett
  • active reconstruction of memory
  • not sole explanation
• define anxiety

  state of emotional and physical arousal
• what are the positive effects of anxiety?

  stress triggers fight or flight response

  • increases alertness
  • improves memory as more aware of cues
• what are the negative effects of anxiety?

  tunnel theory and weapon-focus effect
• who studied the positive effects of anxiety on recall?

  Yuille and Cutshall in 1986
• outline Yuille & Cutshall's study of positive effects of anxiety

  real-life robbery of a gun shop with 13 witnesses

  • 88% accuracy if higher stress levels
  • 75% accuracy if lower stress levels
• who studied the negative effects of anxiety on recall?

  Johnson and Scott in 1976
• outline Johnson & Scott's study of negative effects of anxiety

  participants were left in a waiting room

  • condition 1 - low anxiety (discussions about equipment failure and saw someone leaving with a pen and grease on their hand)
  • condition 2 - high anxiety (discussion with breaking glass, crashing chairs and someone left carrying knife with blood)

  participants had to identify the man from a line-up of 50 photos

  • 49% of those who saw the pen identified accurately
  • 33% of those who saw the knife identified accurately
• explain Yerkes-Dodson law

  moderate amount of anxiety can have a positive effect on recall but once it gets too high then performance will decline

  
• anxiety weakness - counter evidence

  • yuille and cutshall
  • higher levels of anxiety has a positive effect on recall
  • high ecological validity
• misleading information strength - research support

  • loftus and palmer
  • leading questions cause distortion
  • low ecological validity
• misleading information strength - real-world application

  • legal implications
  • Gabbert showed incorporation of false memories
  • reinforcing reliability of testimonies
• anxiety strength - research support

  • loftus and palmer
  • anxiety reduces accuracy
  • low ecological validity
• anxiety strength - relationship between anxiety and memory

  • yerkes-dodson law
  • useful framework for understanding varying effects of anxiety
  • oversimplification due to individual differences