Forgetting & Eyewitness Testimony

Question 1

What are the two types of forgetting?

Answer 1

Apadtive

Maladaptive

Question 2

What is unintentional forgetting?

Answer 2

• Where the retrieval of some material in memory leads to the forgetting of related information
• Where the lack of cues causes difficulty to retrieve information
• Consolidation problems

Question 3

What is encoding specificity?

Answer 3

Probability of retrieving information increases with the overlap between information present at retrieval and information stored in memory - Tulving 1979

Question 4

What is consolidation

Answer 4

• The process whereby information is fixed in the long-term memory
• Associated with the hippocampus

Question 5

What two pieces of evidence support the concept consolidation?

Answer 5

• Effect of alcohol on memory

- Retrograde amnesia affects mostly more recent memories

Question 6

What is the interference theory?

Answer 6

What an individual is currently learning can be disrupted by proactive or retroactive interference

Question 7

What is proactive interference?

Answer 7

• When what has previously been learnt disrupts current learning
• Most prominent when there is a strong incorrect answer
• High WM associated with reduced interference
• Typically occurs during high attentional demand

Question 8

What is retroactive interference?

Answer 8

• What will be learnt in the future

- Most pronounced when new learning resembles old learning

Question 9

What is motivated forgetting?

Answer 9

• Deliberately attempting to forget information

Question 10

What is directed retrieval?

Answer 10

• Process by which retrieval is impaired when instructions are given to forget some material
• Has been investigated by both item and list methods

Question 11

What is inhibition?

Answer 11

Engaging in executive control mechanisms to prevent unwanted information from entering consciousness

Question 12

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 12

• Event memory is distorted by the observer’s expectations

- Expectations are stored in schemas in the LTM and affect our reconstruction of events

Question 13

How can confirmation bias affect eyewitness testimony?

Answer 13

Lindholm & Christianhon 1998 - Swedish students more likely to identify immigrants as criminals

Question 14

Name 7 event factora that can affect eyewitness testimony recall

Answer 14

1. Cross-race id
2. Duration
3. Stress
4. Lighting conditions
5. Number perpetrators
6. Violence
7. Presence of a weapon (weapon focus)

Question 15

How can the age of an eyewitness affect recall?

Answer 15

Older eyewitnesses tend to have poorer recall and be more confident with their false information

Question 16

What is the cross-race id effect?

Answer 16

• Same race faces are better identified due to both expertise and visual cognitive bias against an outgroup
• Effect lessened if they have a lot of experience with another race

Question 17

What did Loftus and Palmer (1974) find?

Answer 17

• Information presented after can distort eyewitness account
• Asked how fast car was going when hit/smashed into other car, more likely to report broken glass when word ‘smashed’ is used

Question 18

How does misleading information distort memory?

Answer 18

• Source missatribution (memory improved when source is considered)
• Vacant slot explanation
• Coexistence explanation
• Blend explanation
• Response bias explanation

Question 19

What two methods have been suggested to improve eyewitness testimony?

Answer 19

• sequential lineup (improves recognition)

- cognitive interview

Question 20

What is a cognitive interview?

Answer 20

• Reinstates context
• Recall from different perspectives
• Repeated recall using different temporal orders
• Recording all details even minor ones