PSYC 3210U Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Police Lineup, Long-Term Memory, Recognition Memory
Unit 5 – Eyewitness Testimony
Memory and Eyewitness Research
Memory
• Perception
- Have to be able to hear or see
• Encoding
- Have to have time to encode info to brain
• Short-term
- Limited capacity of info
• Long-term
- Send info from short term memory to long term memory to be stored
- A lot of memory can be lost along the way
• Retrieval
- When asked about info we can retrieve it from our memory
- Can be hard to retrieve exactly
Types of Memory
• Two types of memory retrieval:
- Recall Memory: Reporting details of previously witnessed event/person
➢ Ex. Describe wheat a suspect looked like
- Recognition Memory: Reporting whether current information is the
same as previous information
➢ Ex. Picking a suspect from a photo lineup
Eyewitness Research
• Variety of research methods:
- Archival data
- Naturalistic environments
- Laboratory simulations
➢ Most common
Independent Variables
• Two types of independent variables:
- Estimator variables: Variables that cannot be changed (age of witness,
lighting, etc.)
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find more resources at oneclass.com
- System variables: Variables that can vary (questioning techniques, lineup
procedure, etc.)
➢ For real world situations
Dependent Variables
• Three types of dependent variables:
- Recall of the event
- Recall of the perpetrator = what do they look like, clothing
- Recognition of the culprit = in a lineup, voice identification
Recall of the Event
• Two forms of recall:
- Open Ended: Recount without being prompted
- Direct Question: Witnesses asked specific questions
Examining Recall Information
• Amount of Information
• Type of Information
• Accuracy of the Information
Recognition Information
• Typical police lineup
- Photos, voice, etc.
• Accuracy
• Type of Errors
Practice Question #1
The two types of memory retrieval are
Answer: Recall and recognition
Recall Procedures
Police Questioning
• Limited ability to collect information:
- Interrupted witnesses during free recall
- Asked short, specific questions
- Asked off-topic questions
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- Asked leading questions
Wording of Questions
• “ashed s. otated
- Reported higher speeds
• Affects future recall
• Wording of question matters
Misinformation Effect
• Witness is provided with inaccurate information
• Iorporates the isiforatio i later reall
• Implications:
- False or added information provided after event can influence memory
- Subtle phrasing differees sashed s. hit ay ias itesss
responses
Explaining Misinformation
• Three theories:
- Acceptance hypothesis = people are guessing or trying to plese the
experimenter
- Source Misattribution hypothesis = might recall both memories
(accurate and inaccurate) but will probably choose the wrong one
- Memory impairment hypothesis = original memory people had is
replaced with a wrong memory
Helping the Police Interview
• Hypnosis
• Cognitive Interview
• Enhanced Cognitive Interview
Hypnosis
• Hypnotically Refreshed Memory
- More details
- Details we get is likely to be inaccurate as it is to be accurate
• Can increase amount of details
- Details not necessarily accurate!
- More suggestible
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Have to be able to hear or see: encoding. Have to have time to encode info to brain: short-term. Send info from short term memory to long term memory to be stored. A lot of memory can be lost along the way: retrieval. When asked about info we can retrieve it from our memory. Types of memory: two types of memory retrieval: Recall memory: reporting details of previously witnessed event/person. Recognition memory: reporting whether current information is the same as previous information. Independent variables: two types of independent variables: Estimator variables: variables that cannot be changed (age of witness, lighting, etc. ) System variables: variables that can vary (questioning techniques, lineup procedure, etc. ) Dependent variables: three types of dependent variables: Recall of the perpetrator = what do they look like, clothing. Recognition of the culprit = in a lineup, voice identification. Recall of the event: two forms of recall:
