AO1 - Post Event Discussion

• Post event discussion is where witnesses of an event discuss their accounts with each other
• Post event discussion affects the accuracy of EWT in two ways:

  1. memory contamination
  2. memory conformity
• Memory contamination: co-witnesses to a crime discuss it with each other, their EWT may become altered or distorted. This is because they combine misinformation from other witnesses with their own memories suggesting that their memories of the event have changed because of post event discussion
• Memory conformity: witnesses go along with each other either to win social approval (NSI) or because they believe the other witness is right and they are wrong (ISI). The memory becomes unchanged, but the accuracy of recall has been affected