EWT: cognitive interview

• Eyewitness Testimony (Loftus and palmer)

  Account given by a person who witnessed an event.
• Leading Questions (Loftus and palmer)

  Questions that suggest a particular answer or bias.
• Response Bias


  wording of question has no enduring effect on an eyewitnesses memory of an event
• Substitution Explanation


  wording of question effects eyewitness memory, distorting accuracy
• LOFTUS AND PALMER STUDY, investigating the effect of misleading info on memory

  - 45 students watched film clips of car accident and then answered questions about speed

  - critical question- "how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?"

  - 5 groups of participants were each given a different verb in the critical question, for ex: 'hit, smashed, contacted, bumped'

  - 'contacted' = mean estimated speed of 31.8mph

  - 'smashed' = mean estimated speed of 40.5mph

  - verb biased eyewitness recall

  - 'smashed' suggested a faster speed of car

  POSITIVES

  + useful real life applications, psychologists can improve how legal system works and protect innocents from wrongful convictions from eyewitness testimony

  - police officers should be careful in phrasing questions due to distoning effects

  NEGATIVES

  - used artificial materials, participants watched clips of accidents which is very different from experiencing in person.

  - yuille and catchall found witnesses of traumatic events recalled accurately so artificial tasks tell us little
• Verb Influence- Loftus and palmer


  Different verbs affect perceived speed of vehicles.
• Post-Event Discussion (gabbert et al study)

  Conversation among witnesses affecting memory accuracy.
• Memory Contamination (gabbert et al study)

  When co-witnesses discuss a crime, they mix (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories
• Fisher and Geiselman

  - reviewed memory literature, people remember better when provided with retrieval cues .