The reliability of eyewitness testimony has become a popular research topic in applied and social

In Canada, the leading cause of wrongful conviction is due to the factor of eyewitness account. It has been proven that individual’s minds are not like tape recorders because everyone cannot precisely and accurately remember the description of what another person or object looks like. The courts looks at eyewitness accounts as a great factor to nab perpetrators because they believe that the witness should know what they are taking about and seen what occurred on the crime scene. On the other hand, eyewitness accounts lead to a 70 percent chance of wrongful conviction, where witnesses would substantially change their description of a perpetrator.

The concepts that are covered in the experiment: “Testing the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony” are how the memory part of your brain works. Also, the colors that help memorization is also included in this experiment.Another thing that is covered in this experiment is whether or not someone is able to regurgitate information back after 20 minutes. Another thing that is covered in this experiment is the types of memory disorders. Tips on how to keep a healthy memory are also included. Also, the steps to creating a new piece of memory is also covered in this experiment. Another thing that is included in the experiment is the timeline as to how we know memory today got there.

Davis, D., Fowler, N. B., Laney, C., Loftus, E. F., Knowles, E. D., Nelson, K. J. (2011). Change blindness can cause mistaken eyewitness identification. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 16(1), 62-74.

Have you ever been a witness to a crime? Would you feel comfortable if prosecutors relied on your eye witness testimony alone for a conviction? According to “The Magic of the Mind”, eyewitness testimony which relies on the accuracy of human memory, has an enormous impact on the outcome of a trial. Eyewitness testimony is a legal term. During an eyewitness testimony, the witness usually goes into an account of the crime he or she has witnessed. This can include details of the crime or identification of perpetrators. Eyewitness testimony is an important area of research in cognitive psychology and human memory (simplypsychology.com). Eyewitness testimony can be affected by many psychological factors such as:

Previous research has provided evidence that there is a rather frequent occurrence of false identifications of innocent people in line-ups (Lindsay, Wells, Rumpel, & Campbell, 1981). Eyewitness memories are often distorted by inaccurate memories of how accurate their original identification was (Wells & Bradfield, 1998). Often the eyewitness will be unsure at the time of the line-up identification, but when recalling the identification process they often give a confident positive response (Wells & Bradfield, 1998). A confirming-feedback comment can have a pronounced effect on the reconstructing of the witnessing and identification process. The comment may not only inflate recollections but also have an impact on the eyewitness confidence (Wells

Credability of Eyewitness Testimony Is Eyewitness testimony reliable and accurate? Include case studies to back this up. EWT refers to evidence supplied by people who witness a specific event or crime, relying on their own memory. Statements often include descriptions given in a criminal trial and subsequent identification by individuals who were present at the crime scene. EWT is likely to dependent on reconstructive memory(Bartlett,1932) which describes how memory is more than a passive recall.

As “Articulate a Question Your Research Will Answer” states, “A good research question should be simple, be focused, and require more than a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer” (334). For this reason, I've decided to change my topic to the issue of memory malleability, and propose the research question, under what circumstances is eyewitness testimony hearsay?

Eyewitness evidence can be fundamental when it comes to solving crimes, however, with the increasing number of cases now being exonerated by DNA evidence, the questions lies, what degree of confidence should be placed on the evidence of the eyewitnesses alone? Countless factors are associated with the accuracy and consistency of eyewitness evidence, such as line up content, line up instructions, the questioning techniques of interviewers and notably the gender and/or age of the witness. Eyewitness testimony may not always be accurate, but despite its weaknesses, by using empirical studies to guide reforms, eyewitness testimony can be an extremely beneficial instrument in the criminal justice system. Inaccurate evidence is not necessarily

The journal Does Eyewitness Memory Research Have Probative Value for the Courts? explains that eyewitnesses have been giving testimony in English-speaking courts since the late 16th century. Expert testimony on eyewitness memory, however, is relatively recent and still an infrequent event. One of the main reasons why courts

Verbal overshadowing has been coined as the undependable eyewitness testimonials of explicit memories resultant of the cognitive barriers to a person’s inability to accurately verbalize or depict the events that have transpired. To illustrate the inaccuracies caused by verbal overshadowing, if it even exists, we conducted a study to demonstrate the differences in a person’s cognitive ability to accurately identify a perpetrator that has committed a crime in a police lineup (Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990). Participants were provided a brief video clip of a perpetrator committing a crime, and data retrieval were manipulated between two conditions: a one-week delay in description retrieval, and half hour delay in description retrieval of the perpetrator’s identity. Although immediate retrieval is coined as the best technique to providing an accurate description, many argue the immediate retrieval may contribute to the effects of verbal overshadowing. In essence, all eyewitness remembrance is predominately terrible, no matter the individual providing the description (also see, Brown C., Lloyd-Jones, T. J., & Robinson, M.,

In their study, Mori and Mori (2008) investigated the social influences on the eyewitness testimony in the form of two experiments. Humans can make mistakes in terms of making judgements about certain situations. These types of judgements can be learned behavior. The purpose of this study is to identify how difference of opinions can be created about the same situation. The main hypothesis of this experiment is that, two witnesses observing the same crime will have different perspectives (Mori & Mori, 2008). Many similar experiments have been conducted by several researchers to investigate this factor. In a study conducted by Kanematsu et al. (1996/2003), thirty pairs of undergraduate students observed a scenario depicting a crime.

Further statistical evidence to support the unreliability of eyewitness testimony is provided by a study conducted by Loftus and Palmer (1974) on the significance of leading questions in altering memory. This study continues to highlight the importance of post-event memory distortion by way of interrogation (police interview, recollecting the event to friends/family/colleagues), independently seeking information about the case, and/or generally being involved in the ongoing investigation.

There has been several previous finding of studies confirmed that eyewitness testimony is unreliable sources. The presence of unintentional phrases (e.g., pause, or phrases such as “um”, and “uh”) as part of an eyewitness testimony often assume as indication for doubt or uncertainty. This study examined the presence of unintentional items that accompanied the correctly recalled information.

According to Science Daily, “Eyewitnesses could be led to believe they saw something they didn’t when the interviewer performed misleading hand gestures.” Studies are being conducted showing how lawyers, police, or investigators actions can lead to eyewitnesses stating something that happened that they now remember. In addition, Sydney Studies show that witnesses who discussed an event with a co-witness are very likely to incorporate misinformation into their memory for the event. The people they associate with can also affect the outcome of their statement, which in the end is not always good. Also repeating their statement to multiple people can lead to details being missed or key events changed because of forgetting certain things. As time goes on, people forget more and more information. Given these points, the people that associate with the eyewitness and their surroundings that come in between the crime scene and testimony have an influence making eyewitnesses less important and reliable than most people

Eyewitness testimony is the account of the witness of a certain event or incident. Throughout, the witness is enforced to provide their experience to the court in order to take legal action towards the incident. It is considered a very useful tool in courts. Yet, such a way to find out the truth is unreliable as many witnesses fail to contribute in a positive way to grant courts accurate data of the incident. This essay will be discussing the factors that influence eyewitness testimony including age, weapon focus, stress, or the leading questions asked in court.