Misleading Info- Factors Affecting EWT Accuracy

• Research on Leading Questions (Procedure)

  When asked a question, wording may (mis)lead you to give a certain answer- this is an issue for EWT as it can 'direct' witnesses to give a particular answer.

  Loftus and Palmer

  Procedure- arranged 45 p's to watch clips of a car accident, and the critical question was p's having to estimate how fast the car was traveling. Though each group was given a different verb: contacted, bumped, collided, smashed.
• Research on Leading Questions (Findings)

  Loftus and Palmer

  Findings- the mean estimated speed was calculated for each group. Contacted=31.8mph, and Smashed=40.5mph. The leading question then biased their recall.
• Why do Leading Questions affect EWT?

  Response-bias: suggests wording has little effect on p's memories, but does influence how they decide to answer. When p's were given the verb 'smashed' it encouraged them to give a higher speed estimate.

  Substitution Explanation: proposing that the wording does change their memory of the clip. As p's who had originally heard 'smashed' were more likely to report seeing broken glass than those who heard 'hit'. The critical verb then altered their memory of the incident.
• Research on Post-Event Discussion (Procedure)

  Eyewitnesses to a crime may discuss experiences together; a study by Gabbert assesses the effects.

  Procedure- studying p's in pairs, each then watched a video of the same crime but filmed from different points of view meaning they couldn't see the same elements. Both discussed what they had seen and independently completed a recall test.
• Research on Post-Event Discussion (Findings)

  Gabbert

  Findings- researchers found that 71% of p's mistakenly recalled aspects of an event which wasn't seen in their video. The corresponding figure in the control group was 0% with no discussion. This evidence of memory conformity.
• Why does Post-Event Discussion affect EWT?

  Memory Contamination: when co-witnesses come to discuss a crime, their testimonies may become altered and distorted. They may combine (mis)information from other witnesses into their own memory.

  Memory Conformity: Gabbert concluded that co-witnesses go along with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other is right. Though the actual memory is unchanged.
• AO3: Real-World Application

  It has important practical uses in the CJS. Consequences of an inaccurate EWT can be very serious. Loftus believes leading questions can have such a distorting effect on memory that police officers must be cautious when questioning. Psychologists are often asked to act as expert witnesses to explain the limits of EWT. Therefore knowledge about the effects has protected innocent people from convictions from unreliable EWT.
• AO3: Overly Negative about EWT Accuracy

  Foster et al claims that what actual eyewitnesses remember has important consequences in the real-world, but p's responses from watching research materials doesn't matter in the same way. Research p's may be less motivated to be accurate. This implies that researchers like Loftus may be too pessimistic about effects, and EWT may be more dependable then studies suggest.
• AO3: Evidence Against Substitution

  One limitation is that EWT can be more accurate for some aspects of an event than others. For example, Sunderland and Hayne showed p's a video and were asked misleading questions. Their recall was more accurate for more central details of the event rather than the peripheral. This suggests that memories of central aspects are more resistant to misleading information. This goes against the substitution explanation.
• AO3: Evidence Challenging Memory Conformity

  Skagerberg and Wright showed p's film clips, there was 2 versions- the first had a mugger with dark brown hair, and the other had light brown hair. P's then discussed the clips in pairs. They often didn't report what they or the other had seen, but a blend of the two ('medium' brown hair). Demonstrating that memory is contaminated by misleading information rather than due to memory conformity.
• AO3: Demand Characteristics

  A limitation could be from the overly controlled variables in lab studies. Zaragoza and McCloskey argue that many answers given by p's in lab studies were a result of demand characteristics- wanting to appear helpful and not let the researcher down, they then guess when they don't know an answer.