eye witness testimony continued

eye witness testimony continued

1. reconstructive memory

   • Bartlett - schemas
     • you have a schema about everything e.g. summer = shorts, ice-cream etc
     • schemas are packets of information stored in the long term memory
     • people tend to have similar schemas
     • Bartlett said that our schemas effect our memories
     • reconstructive memory = memory is an active process; a combination of what we remember and our schematic knowledge
   • Tuckey and Brewer
     • eyewitnesses of a robbery were found to recall false information that was related to robberies
     • this suggests that the witnesses used their crime schemas to recall information about the robbery and so their memories were distorted by their schemas

2. the cognitive interview

   • Geisleman et al
     • developed the cognitive interview to take account of how the human memory works. it takes account of:
       • memory is complex (different types and traces)
       • context is important (retrieval cues)
       • access to retrieval cues may improve memory
     • there are 4 main parts of the cognitive interview:
       • context reinstatement
       • report everything
       • change order
       • change perspective
     • 41.1 correct statements using the cognitive interview vs 29.4 using the standard police interview
   • Fisher et al - the enhanced cognitive interview
     • to try and make recall better - reduced distractions, speak slowly, don't use police jargon etc
     • found 57.5 vs 39.6 more statements, however 28% more incorrect statements
     • evaluation
       • increase in the number of errors
       • cannot be used a long time after the crime
       • are all aspects needed?