PSYC 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Mental Chronometry, Semantic Network, Spreading Activation
Document Summary
Since the 1990s, dna testing has overturned 329 wrongful convictions. Eyewitness misidentifications which were invariably made with high confidence in a court of law played a role in 72% of these cases. Research has shown that sequential lineups reduce misidentifications and increase accuracy compared to traditional simultaneous lineups. Police departments should switch to sequential lineups (30% have done that) Research has also shown that eyewitness confidence is, at best, weakly associated with accuracy, yet jurors are impressed by high confidence. Each participant (n = 200) watches a simulated crime followed by a line-up memory test. Half (n = 100) are then tested using a target-present lineup. The other half (n - 100) are tested using a target-absent lineup. Main advantage: you know if the suspect is innocent or guilty. Main disadvantage: lacks the realism of an actual crime. Rely on relative judgment (choose the most familiar lineup member)
