PSY 367 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Eyewitness Memory, Forgetting Curve, Meta-Analysis
Document Summary
An estimated 2,000-10,000 people a year are wrongfully convicted based on flawed eyewitness testimony. Looking at exonerations based on dna testing, mistaken ids have contributed to more than 75% of these cases (more than any other reason for wrongful conviction). A few words on memory for events. You already know eyewitness memory is suggestible, even from a single word. ( how fast were the cars going when they smashed/collided/bumped ? ) For target-present lineups: about 50% correct ids and 25% false ids under good initial viewing conditions. For target-absent lineups: 50% correct rejections, 50% false ids. Similar patterns emerge in the lab and in real-world criminal cases. Face invariance takes 13-15 exposures on average (with high variance) Rate of iding someone is higher for more serious crimes. : more reprehensible crime leads to greater bias to make a positive. Increased rehearsals, which may increase confidence in memory. Heightened suggestiveness by police and/or heightened pressure to choose.