Post-event information

• Post-event information is information that eye-witnesses may be exposed to after they have witnessed an event, such as group discussions. 


  • Gabbert et al. (2003) found that following a post-event discussion, 71% of this group recalled information that they had not seen in a video of a girl stealing from a wallet, so reliability may be decreased.
• Eye-witness memory can be influenced by leading questions which will lead to errors in recall. 


  •  Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that if a question is asked with misleading information the eye-witness will reconstruct their memory leading to unreliable recall. 
• Eye-witness memory of real-life crimes is often used in court testimony when offenders are on trial which can be after exposure to post-event information. 


  • In real-life eye-witness memories Yuille and Cutshall (1986) found that post-event information does not affect reliability as the accuracy of recall did not differ when tested 5 months after an event. 
• Post-event information may be a result of media coverage of high profile or large-scale cases where inaccuracies in reports may be present. 


  • Thompson et al (1997) found that eye-witness memory from the Marchioness ferry sinking was not inaccurate, despite wide scale media coverage that the eye-witnesses would have seen, so reliability was maintained. 
• DEFINITION

  Details received following the witnessing of a crime that has the potential to alter existing memories of actual events.