Memory- Accuracy of eyewitness testimony: Misleading information

1. Eyewitness testimony is the information in which a witness of an event provides evidence in court
2. 1:Witness encodes details of the event and people involved into their LTM (Encoding may be partial & distorted, particularly if the event happened quickly, at night or involved violence
   1. The Witness retains information for a period of time (Memories may be lost or modified during retention- most forgetting takes place within the first few minutes and other activities may interfere with the memory between encoding & retrieval
      1. The witness retrieves the memory from storage (the presence/absence of retrieval cues, or nature of questioning may affect accuracy of recall)

1. Conversions between co-witnesses or interviewer and the eyewitness after a crime which can potentially shape the witness' memory of the event
   1. Conformity effect : Is when co-witnesses of an event discuss what has happened in the event and come to an overall consensus on what happened in the event
      1. Fiona Gabbert & Colleagues (2003) invested pt.s in pairs were each pt.s watched a different video on a same event, viewing unique items. Pairs in 1 condition were encouraged to discuss the event. 71% of witnesses who discussed the event went on to recall items from the discussion
   2. Repeat Interviewing : Is information said from an interviewer that shapes the witnesses recollection of events .
      1. La Rooy et al. (2005) Used leading questions in which alters individuals memory for events especially when children are involved

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