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Forensic Assessment
Published in Louis B. Schlesinger, Sexual Murder, 2021
Since the early 1900s, psychologists have recognized that the human information-processing system is by no means perfect, and hence significant errors in memory and perception often will be made. Münsterberg (1908) in his classic text On the Witness Stand noted that research findings in human perception could be used to inform the criminal justice system about frequent errors in eyewitness identification. About 70 years later, Buckhout (1974) devised a number of compelling studies indicating that eyewitness testimony is highly unreliable. Additional eyewitness identification research (e.g., Loftus and Doyle, 1976; Loftus and Ketchman, 1991; Loftus, 2019; Skeem, Douglas, and Lilienfeld, 2009) repeatedly demonstrated the unreliability of eyewitness testimony—testimony that is heavily relied on by the court.
Pretrial Preparation for the Field Investigator
Published in Kevin L. Erskine, Erica J. Armstrong, Water-Related Death Investigation, 2021
Contrary to popular belief, circumstantial evidence can be more compelling than eyewitness testimony. A DNA match of blood from the victim found on a suspect’s clothing, a ballistic match of a bullet removed from a decedent to the gun of a suspect, or credit card records that place a suspect at the scene of a crime are all examples of circumstantial evidence.
Memory
Published in Andrea Utley, Motor Control, Learning and Development, 2018
Other interesting aspects of memory are ‘tip-of-the-tongue phenomena’, where the right retrieval cues can facilitate our ability to suddenly remember something such as a word, name or number. This illustrates the difference between things we do not know, even if we thought all day, and things we are sure are stored in memory somewhere. The key is to press the right buttons in order to release the information from storage. In situations such as eyewitness testimony where it is very important that exact details be remembered, many different techniques have been tried to assist witnesses with their recall. Going back to the scene of the crime/accident can help by providing important memory cues. We all have to find methods of remembering that have contextual meaning, and this often assists recall.
Asking About “Prostitution”, “Sex Work” and “Transactional Sex”: Question Wording and Attitudes Toward Trading Sexual Services
Published in The Journal of Sex Research, 2023
Michael A. Hansen, Isabelle Johansson
To further convey the importance of question wording, it is worth discussing studies that demonstrate that eyewitness testimony and even reports of victimization are impacted survey instruments. An earlier experiment by Loftus and Zanni (1975) had participants watch a video of a car accident and then immediately answer questions about the event that occurred in the film. One question the authors asked the participants was about seeing a broken headlight. The authors provided two variants of the question where they altered the article in the question wording. When using a definitive article (e.g., did you see the broken headlight?) there were fewer “don’t know” responses and a greater number of participants indicating witnessing events that had not taken place when compared to using an indefinite article (e.g., did you see a broken headlight?). The result is striking since the questionnaire was given immediately at the end of the video.
Raymond D. Adams and Joseph M. Foley: Elaborating the neurologic manifestations of hepatic encephalopathy (1949–1953)
Published in Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 2021
Although oral histories and personal communications can provide insights into the process of discovery that cannot be obtained from the formulaic published reports, the information presented needs to be corroborated and cross-referenced to ensure its validity, as demonstrated by comparing the various versions of the early work of Adams and Foley on the neurologic manifestations of liver disease. As has been learned from eyewitness testimony in the legal environment, first-person accounts of the same event vary across observers and over time. In addition, every story told is a simplification of the events that occurred, and the details shift in sometimes unpredictable ways with later retelling. The purpose of a story also matters, as do the intentions of the storyteller, such as whether a story is primarily presented to convey factual information or to entertain. The details are likely to fade with time and may vary with intentional elaboration and unintended confabulation.
Rehearsal and Event Age Predict the Fading Affect Bias across Young Adults and Elderly in Self-Defining and Everyday Autobiographical Memories
Published in Experimental Aging Research, 2021
Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Leslie Rollins
Much like Shaquille O’Neil who mistakenly implied that he would make the free throws in the playoffs when it counted (Kurtzman, 2010), many individuals incorrectly think that they will remember the important events in their lives. However, the autobiographical memory research on eyewitness testimony and flashbulb memories suggest otherwise. Specifically, the eyewitness testimony literature estimates that three-quarters of the 77,342 incarcerations for burglary in 2002 were based on misidentifications (Gross, Jacoby, Matheson, Montgomery, & Patil, 2005). Although the flashbulb memory literature shows that ratings of vividness and belief in memory accuracy remain stronger over time for emotionally salient public events (e.g., the September 11th terrorist attacks) than for everyday events, it also shows that memory for contextual details associated with emotionally salient public events and everyday events decline at similar rates (Talarico & Rubin, 2003). More importantly for the current study, Talarico and Rubin (2003) found that the intensity of affect associated with both flashbulb memories and everyday memories faded over time. Taken together, these findings suggest that emotionally salient events may not be accentuated by heightened memory accuracy nor persistent emotional intensity.