EWT

• What is an eye witness testimony (EWT)?


  A legal term to describe the evidence provided in court by a person who wax present at the time the crime took place.
• • Purpose of gathering EWT is to identify the criminal involved.
  • Researchers argue that the accuracy of EWT can be affected by factors including:
  • Misleading information.
  • Anxiety.
• What is misleading information?


  Incorrect information given to the eye witness usually after the event has taken place.
• Misleading information has many forms including:

  • Leading questions
  • Post-event discussions
• What are leading questions?


  Questions that suggest a certain answer.
• What is a post event discussion?


  Where two witnesses have conversation after a crime has taken place which may contaminate a witness' memory for the event.
• What is anxiety?


  An unpleasant emotional state where we fear that something bd is about to happen.
• • People often become anxious when they're in stressful situations.
  • This tends to be accompanied with physiological arousal e.g increased heart rate.
  • Most of the research in EWT is focused on the effects of arousal.