3/27: Application of Memory

• Eyewitness Testimony
• Eyewitness are often wrong!!
• Why are Eyewitnesses Wrong? - 3 Stages of Eyewitness Error
• Acquisition: Info Perceived
• Storage: Info Stored in Memory
• Retrieval: Info Retrieved Later Time
• Acquisition, Stage 1
• Influential Factors
• Time viewing event, night, Lighting conditions
• Brief Exposure, Poor Lighting, etc.
• Narrowed Focus
• Arousal and Emotions
• Weapons-focus effect
• weapon present, difficult to pay attention to culprit or anything else
• Own-Race Bias: people are better at recognizing faces of their own race than others
• Familiarity with own race but not other races
• "They all look alike"
• mock witnesses likely to accuse people of other races
• Platz and Hosch, 1988
• Clerks recognized more customers that were of their own race
• Storage, Stage 2
• Misinformation effect: tendency for False Positive info to become part of people's memory of an event
• Loftus and Palmer, 1974
• video clip of car crash, original info of car crash =  memory
• three misleading questions, smashed/hit/contacted caused them to retrieve info not accurate
• Loftus, Miller and Burns, 1978
• car stopped at stop sign; car stopped at yield sign
• change info about event, change occurs in memory of event
• Loftus, 2004
• "lost in mall procedure: paricipants given 3 real memories and 1 false memory of being lost in mall
• asked to elaborate on stories 24-48 hrs later, 25% recalled vivid details of being lost in mall
• Malleability of Memory: changing beliefs or memories can influence what people think or do later
• Misinformation effect has been applied by Loftus to many situations
• May be Function of Source Monitoring
• Difficulty of remembering what the source was for each piece of info- e.g. saw stop sign, questioned about yield sign
• Info not Tagged correctly
• Recovered Memories: memories, typically of sexual abuse, "recovered" often via therapist help
• most academics argue against this
• False memory syndrome: people can recall a past traumatic event that is objectively false but they believe is true
• Vivid memories acquired especially if Suggested by another person like therapist
• Typically lack other objective findings to support claims
• Retrieval, Stage 3
• Foils
• 4-8 
• Should Look like Actual suspect
• Goal: Reduce actual suspect's Distinctiveness
• Instructions
• Biased-  pressure to pick someone, even if unsure
• " Pick the assailant" or "Concentrate and make a choice"
• more likely to make a false ID
• Fair- "suspect may or may not be here"
• Format
• Sequential lineups or "showups" are better
• Compare each face individually to memory of perpetrator
• Absolute Judgment
• Simultaneous lineups
• like multiple choice - which one best
• Relative Judgment
• Avoid Familiarity Bias
• Familiarity-induced bias: forget where we saw a face we recall
• don't include actual suspects in initial lineup
• People do not always remember where they saw a face
• Detecting Deception
• Use skills at decoding non-verbal behavior...
• average person- slightly better than chance at detecting deception
• Training and Practice can Improve one's skills
• Zukerman (1981)
• 4 Channels for Evaluating Deception
• words, face, body, voice
• Words and face = controllable
• Body = more revealing
• fidgety movements, restless shifts in posture
• Voice = best clue
• pitch rises, and more hesitations