One participant could see the stimulus, the other could not
Participants then discussed what they had seen
72% of the participants saw and discussed aspects of the video that they had not actually seen
The corresponding figure for the control group was 0%
There was evidence of memory conformity
Memory contamination
When co-witnesses discuss with each other, their eyewitness testimonies may become aligned or distorted
Memory conformity
Participants change their memories to align with each other, either to win social approval or because they believe the other witnesses are right and they are wrong
Strengths of research into misleading information
It has important implications for the criminal justice system
Consequences of inaccurate eyewitness testimony can be very serious
Psychologists are sometimes asked to act as expert witnesses in court trials and explain the effects of misleading information on eyewitness testimony
Research participants are less affected to be accurate than real-world eyewitnesses
Eyewitness testimony may be more dependable than many studies suggest
