Eye witness testimony

• What is a misleading question?

  The wording of it may lead or mislead you to give a certain answer
• Who studied misleading information?

  Loftus and Palmer (1974)
• What was the procedure of Loftus and Palmer's study?

  45 participants watched car clips and were then asked questions about it however, they changed the verbs used in the questions eg. hit, smashed and bumped
• What were Loftus and Palmer's findings?

  Contacted got an average speed of 31.8 mph and smashed got an average of 40.5 mph - the leading question biased the recall of events
• What does response bias suggest?

  The wording has no real effect on the memory just how they choose to answer
• What did Loftus and Palmer's second experiment support?


  Substitution
• What was the procedure in Loftus and Palmer's second study?

  Participants who had the word smashed previously were later more likely to report seeing broken glass compared to those who had the verb hit (was no glass) - the verb altered memory
• Who studied post-event discussion?

  Gabbert et al (2003)
• What was the procedure of Gabbert et al's experiment?

  Participants were put in pairs and had to watch a video of the same crime but from different points of view which meant they saw different elements that the other couldn't and were then left to discuss
• What were Gabbert et al's findings?

  71% had mistakenly recalled aspects of the event they didn't actually see compared to a control group with 0% wrong - memory conformity
• What is memory conformity?

  Going along with each other to win social approval or because they believe it (actual memory unchanged)
• What is memory contamination?

  New information or experiences interfering with or altering existing memories
• What is one strength of misleading information on EWT?

  Helps solve practical issues in the justice system, inaccurate EWT can be serious, leading questions can have distorting effects on memory

  CA: a lab study is very different to real events (less stress)
• What is one limitation of misleading information on EWT?


  It is more effective some areas than others, Sutherland and Hayes (2001) showed participants a clip and were later asked misleading questions, recall was more accurate for central details rather than side ones
• What is one limitation of misleading information on EWT?


  It was a lab study which can account for demand characteristics from participants
• What is one limitation of misleading information on EWT?


  The memory conformity explanation as evidence that post event discussion alters EWT is often a blend of answers distorted through contamination by misleading post event discussion rather than memory conformity
• What affects does anxiety have on EWT?


  Strong emotional and physical effects however can be good or bad
• What is weapon focus?


  The presence of a weapon causes physiological arousal in the body caused by anxiety which prevents us from paying attention to important events and cues
• Who looked into the weapon focus theory?


  Johnson and Scott (1976)
• What was the procedure of Johnson and Scott's experiment? 


  Participants believed it was a lab study, whilst sitting in the waiting room participants in the low-anxiety condition heard a conversation followed by a man walking out with a pen and greasy hands. In the high-anxiety condition participants heard a heated argument with the sound of breaking glass followed by a man walking past them with a blood covered knife
• What were Johnson and Scott's findings?


  Participants later had to pick out the man from 50 photos, 49% in the low anxiety condition were able to pick him out, whilst only 33% were able to in the high anxiety condition
• What is the tunnel theory of memory?


  That people have enhanced memory for central events and other important details are forgotten
• Why can anxiety have a positive effect on recall?


  The fight or flight is triggered increasing alertness becoming more aware of cues
• Who conducted a study on an actual shooting in Vancouver?

  Yuille and Cutshall (1986)
• What was the procedure of Yuille and Cutshall's study


  13 witnesses out of 21 agreed to take part and were interviewed 4-5 months after the shooting and these were compared to the original police interviews, accuracy was based on the number of details reported, were also asked to rate how stressed they were at the incident and whether they have had any emotional problems since
• What were Yuille and Cutshall's findings?


  Recall was mostly the same but was the best in those who rated themselves highly stressed 88% accuracy compared to those who rated themselves less stressed at 75% accuracy
• Who came up with the concept of the inverted 'U'?


  Yerkes and Dodson - the relationship between emotional arousal and performance
• Who applied the inverted 'U' to anxiety on EWT?

  Deffenbacher - he reviewed 21 studies of contradictory findings
• What did Deffenbacher find?


  Lower levels of anxiety produce lower levels of recall, as well as super high levels of anxiety however there is an optimal middle level
• What is one limitation of anxiety on EWT?


  It may have not fully tested the effect of anxiety but instead participants being surprised by what they saw, Pickel (1998) conducted an experiment with scissors, a handgun, a wallet or raw chicken as the items her - EWT was less accurate in the highly unusual conditions which suggests that weapon focus is due to unusualness rather then anxiety/threat
• What is one strength of negative effects of anxiety on EWT?


  Research support - Valentine and Mesout weapon focus does have negative effects on recall, they used an objective measure heart rate to divide participants into high and low anxiety groups, anxiety disrupted participants ability to recall details of an actor in the London dungeons
• What is one strength of positive effect of anxiety on EWT?


  Research support - Christianson and Hubinette interviewed 58 witnesses of bank robberies in Sweden, some were directly involved and some were bystanders, it was found recall was 75% accurate across all of them and even better in those directly involved (more stressed) - may enhance recall

  CA: they were interviewed several months later there was a lack of control of confounding variables like post event discussion
• Who developed the cognitive interview?


  Fisher and Giselman (1992)
• What are the 4 main parts of the cognitive interview?


  1. Reinstate context - return to original scene
  2. Report everything - all details (may trigger other ones)
  3. Change perspective - prevents schema
  4. Reverse order - prevents reporting expectations
• What is the enhanced cognitive interview?


  Fisher et al (1987) added some additional elements to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction - eye contact, minimising distractions, speaking slowly
• What is one strength of the cognitive interview?


  It works - meta analysis by Kohnken et al combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI with a standard police interview, the CI gave a 41% increase in accurate information compared to standard (only 4 studies showed no real difference)

  CA: the ECI produced more inaccurate results than the the CI - should use techniques with caution
• What is one weakness of the cognitive interview?


  Not all elements of it are as equally effective - Milne and Bull (2002) found that each of the techniques used alone produced more information than a standard police interview but a combination of report everything and reinstate context produced better recall than any of the other elements or combination - doubts credibility
• What is a weakness of the cognitive interview?


  More time consuming compared to original police interviews and requires more training - not realistic and may be better to focus on a few elements