Analyse the Studies into the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony
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Introduction.
Eyewitness testimony’s are a common tool used in court and is used by the jury to come to a verdict. Unfortunately, as many psychologists have proven, eyewitness testimonies are very unreliable. Memory is often defined as ‘’an internal record or representation of some prior event of experience’’(purdy, Markham , Schwartz & Gordon, 2001). Memory is on of the most important and valuable mental process and without memory we have no past because learning is lost. However, our internal record may be composed of less detail or more than the actual event or experience. In everyday life we father and store memory for later use, everything from the names of new business contacts to the location of our favorite store. During this process we accumulate vast amount of seemingly useless information e.g. what we had for dinner last night? Cognitive psychology explains learning process by gathering information and organizing it into mental schemata. Therefore, the way we select and use the information is what determines the relationship between any stimulus and response. (Karen Huffman, 2004)
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi Store Model
In 1968, Atkinson and Shiffrin put forward two-stage theory of memory. They argued that we have two separate memory stores; a short-term one and a long term one. Their theory explained that the short term memory store act as a first stage for storing of longer-term memories. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin, unnecessary information that we didn’t need or try to memories goes into the short-term store and eventually the memory trace decays rapidly if it is not rehearsed. However, if the information was practiced through repetition, then that information is transferred to a long- term store. Information that an individual is particularly interested in is often unconsciously rehearsed and therefore, is remembered better. E.g. a top charts song that is played repeatedly through out the day on the radio over a period of time. Later on a third memory store was add the sensory memory, which is actually the first in the sequence. Information enters the human information processing system via a variety of channels associated with different senses. Information not immediately attended to is held briefly in a very temporary sensory buffer, making it possible to access some of it a bit later. (Nicky Hayes & Sue Orrell,1998)
Researchers and psychologists have found that memory is better recalled if the event does not involve and violence or trauma. An experiment was conducted in lowa state university, proved that participants who viewed a violent film clips had a poorer memory recall of the event than the participants who saw a non-violent film clip. (Bushman, 1998). It has been suggested that the shock of witnessing a real crime effects with the processing of information. Researchers have argued that participants in the event have more accurate recall than those who are bystanders. However, other researchers have found that involvement has no measurable effect on the accuracy of recall.(Ibid)
Level of processing
The second theory on memory is the level of processing introduced by Craik and Lockhart (1972). Their theory is that information memorized is processed at different levels, which is then relate to what is done with the material. How well the information is retained is based on how shallow or deep the processing level is. Shallow processing, process the material to be memorized at a structural level rather than a semantic level. This process consists of coding the material in terms of its psychical characteristics (sound or appearance) E.g. as whether a word is written in upper or lower case type or acoustically, whether it was a male or female voice. Deep processing involves some semantic manipulation following a deeper level of processing. E.g. answering whether the word ‘tiger’ means the same as ‘car’ as it involves you to focus on the meaning of the word; therefore, involving some semantic processing. (Nicky Hayes,1998)
Criak and Lockharts theory on the level of processing explains why deep processing seems to influence recall relate with three factors, distinctiveness, elaborative rehearsal and maintenance rehearsal. Distinctiveness describes the extent to which a stimulus is different from one memory trace to another in the system. Elaboration measures how rich the processing is in term of meaning. Maintenance rehearsal is simple repetition, which is shallow, and elaborative rehearsal is when rehearsal explores meaning and involves deep processing. (ibid)
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi- store model is or focused on the structure of memory rather than the processes of ...
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Criak and Lockharts theory on the level of processing explains why deep processing seems to influence recall relate with three factors, distinctiveness, elaborative rehearsal and maintenance rehearsal. Distinctiveness describes the extent to which a stimulus is different from one memory trace to another in the system. Elaboration measures how rich the processing is in term of meaning. Maintenance rehearsal is simple repetition, which is shallow, and elaborative rehearsal is when rehearsal explores meaning and involves deep processing. (ibid)
Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi- store model is or focused on the structure of memory rather than the processes of memory. Many have criticized multi-store model for being over simplistic, explaining that STM and LTM as a single store. The MSM neglects a lot of other factors involved in memory such as age, stress and emotion. Many psychologists and studies have found that emotion is a major effect on the accuracy of an eyewitness testimony. However, the LOP theory explains that when emotions are involved in an event the individual deep processes the information around the event and is able to recall the event in the long run. ( Tony Malim, 1998)
Flashbulb Memory
Flashbulb memory refers to the memory retained in the situation in which we first find out about an outstanding event. E.g. people are to have very good and accurate memories of what they were doing when they first found out about president Kennedy had been shot. Brown and Kulik (1977) took interest in this particular area in memory and attempted to investigate into this further. They questioned people to see whether certain nation events triggered a flashbulb memory, they listed six kinds of information, which were likely to be memories. This included the place, the event that was interrupted by the news, person who gave them the news, their feelings, the feeling of other and the aftermath. Their results proved that what determined the triggering of flashbulb memories included first the high level of surprise, the importance of the even and the high level of emotional arousal, which accompanied it. (Tony malim,1998)
Leading Questions
Loftus and Palmer (1974) conducted an experiment on eyewitness testimony. In the experiment participants in the study were shown a film of a multiple car accident. Afterwards they were asked to describe what happened in their own words however, they were asked specific questions. One group was asked ‘how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?’ the second group was asked ‘how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’. The last group was a controlled group and was not asked any question about the speed of the cars. The results of the study proved that the wording of the question had affected the recall of the motor accident. The first groups mean estimate of the cars’ speed was 10.5 mph whereas the second groups mean estimate was 8.0 mph. Loftus and palmers study proves that eyewitness evidence can be easily distorted by information presented subsequently and can be altered by manipulation. However, many researchers have questioned this interpretation, arguing that misleading subjects simply leads them to question their original memories. Loftus and Palmers study lacked ecological validity as all the participants were young and had very little or no driving experience prior to the experiment. The importance of Lawyers and police officers knowledge on leading question is very crucial. Leading questions can cause the witness to recall the incident differently and reconstruction of memory in order for the new information to fit into event, resulting in an unreliable eyewitness testimony.(McCloskey and Zaragoza, 1985)
Cognitive interviews.
Psychologists have tried to design techniques to improve memory retrieval. In 1985, psychologist Geisselman founded a cognitive interview involving the use of four key concepts to improve eyewitness recall. Theses included; recreating the context of the incident, recalling every detail, viewing the situation from a different point of view other than your own and to report the incident using a different order of event. Geisselman conducted an experiment in 1988, students were shown police training videos of crimes. Later American officers of the law, some of whom were using the cognitive interview technique, interviewed them. The level of information gained was measured on the number of correctly recalled details or the incorrect details or errors of things that weren’t in the video. The results showed that the students interviewed with cognitive interview techniques recalled 41.5% of details correctly, compared to only 29.4% of the details recalled correcting with those interview using the standard interview. (Anthony Esgate et al, 2005)
Cognitive interview techniques have proven to be efficient among many studies. E.g. Bekerian and Dennett (1993) who reviewed 27 cases and concluded that cognitive interview technique was a more accurate interviewing process. In particular, cognitive interview techniques have been useful when interviewing children. (ibid)
The Effect of Anxiety
The levels of anxiety during eye witness testimony has always been questions by psychologist whether or not it had had an effect on later recall. Loftus (1979) conducted a study to find out whether anxiety was a factor that effect recall. During the experiment participants were exposed to one of two situations. The first being, the participants overhearing a discussion in laboratory about equipment failure following a person emerging from the laboratory holding a pen with grease on his hands. The second group overhear a hostile argument between two people in a laboratory, after hearing breaking glass and crashing chair, a person emerging from the lab holding a paper knife covered in blood. The results from the study showed that 49% of those who witnessed the man holding the pen identified him correctly compared to only 33% of the first group which were able to identify him correctly. Loftus came to a conclusion that people concentrate on a weapon, and this distracts their memory of the perpetrator and that fear and the sight of the weapon brought about anxiety. This in turn narrowed that participant’s focus and attention and whilst they were able to recall central parts of the event they were less able to recall the details. (James Michael Lampinen et al, 2012)
Age of Witness
The accuracy and reliability of a eyewitness testimony given by children have been argued to have been worse than adults. Researchers have argued that the amount of information a child can recall develops with age, due to the lack of retrieval capabilities as well as inferior capacity and duration. Studies such as Geisselman and Padilla have been able to prove this theory with their study, after shown a film of a bank robbery, children ages 7-12 were less accurate at reporting details of the incident. On the other hand, Cassa et all and other studies have failed to find such differences. (David Frank Ross et al. 1994)
Race and face recognition
The two major problems with eyewitnesses is being able to recognize the face accurately and the difficult an individual may face when trying to recall other information relating to an event. Shapiro and Penrod (1986) gathered together 128 studies of facial recognition in order to see whether any particular variable seems to have an effect on accuracy of recognition. Their results included, Race, time and attention paid to the face, distractions, importance of the upper part of the face and depth of processing. Their researched showed that people seem to recognize members of their own race significantly better than member of another race. The more time and attention that is spent upon looking at a face increased the accuracy of recognition. Accuracy of recognition is more likely to reduced where something distracts attention away from the face. Unlike the lower half of the face, the upper part of as face determines recognition to a greater extent. The depth of processing increases the accuracy of facial recognition, making judgment about face recognition is more likely to be accurate than when a person simply looks at a face.(Karen Huffan,2004)
How can eyewitness testimony be improved?
According to the innocence project, legal advocacy groups about 75% of false conviction that are later overturned are based on faulty eyewitness testimony. (Wired, 2012) Events such as false conviction, have caused many psychologists to researcher the ways be can improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. Dr. Brewer focused on police line-ups, and suggested that encouraging witnesses to two seconds to come to a decision would improve reliability. Brewer, explained how strong memory traces are easier to access than weak and mistaken ones. He also asked them to estimate how confident they were about the suspects they identified. (Wired, 2012)
According to Tulving (1974), forgetting a memory comes down to not having the right cue to retrieving memory. When a memory goes through the encoding process it leaves a memory trace, which stores detailed information about the way we felt or the place of the event. There are two types of cue that help recall, context and state. Researchers suggest that recall will be best when an individual tries to recall the information in the same environment that they learned it in, this is know as context dependent memory e.g. when a student tries to recall information in an exam, they will be better at recalling in an environment which is similar to the exam environment. (Godden Baddeley, 1975). State dependent memory is where an individual’s physical state can influence and recall information e.g. state cues included, happiness, fear and sadness etc.(Michael W.Eysenck, 2000).
In conclusion, many studies and cases have proven that false convictions came down to unreliable eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness testimony can refute or support the overall facts of cases however; details of testimony’s should not over rule the actual evidence presented in court. Eyewitness testimony can be affected by leading question, level of anxiety or stress when the event took place, age, the presence of weapons and reconstructive memory. All theses factors should be taken in to consideration when an eyewitness testimony is presented. In the recent years, psychological research into eyewitness reliability and memory has resulted in an improvement in CIT used by police and the awareness of court leading questions. However, an increase in depth of training given to interviewees about theses factors and more psychological research on eyewitness testimony will help improve and eliminate theses factors.
Bibliography
Anthony Esgate, David Groome, Kevin Baker, 2005, Psyhology press, An Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology
David Frank Ross, J. Don Read, Michael P. Toglia, 1994, Cambridge Press, Adult Eyewitness Testimony: Current Trends and Developments
James Michael Lampinen, Jeffrey S. Neuschatz, Andrew D. Cling, 2012, Taylor & Francis, The Psychology of Eyewitness Identification
Karen Huffman, 2004, Hermitage , Psychology in Action
Michael W. Eysenck, 2000, Psychology Press, Psychology A Student Handbook
Nicky Hayes and Sue Orrell, 1998, Longman, Psychology: An induction, Third Edition
Tony Malim & Ann Birch, 1998, Palgrave Macmillan, Introductory psychology
William E. Glassman & Marilyn Hadad, Approches to psychology fifth edition
http://www.wired.com/2012/04/how-to-improve-eyewitness-testimony/
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/bJEPA98.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4177082.stm
http://news.sciencemag.org/policy/2014/10/how-reliable-eyewitness-testimony-scientists-weigh
http://www.innocenceproject.org
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salehnorhangmailcom (student)
