memory distortions eyewitness testimony lineup...
TRANSCRIPT
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Memory part I
Memory Distortions Eyewitness Testimony
Lineup Studies
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Overview
• Memory for detail vs. gist
• Memory distortions due to – Schematic knowledge/General knowledge – Semantic associations – Misinformation
• Problems with photo-lineups
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Remember this person….
let’s say this was a person related to a crime scene
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What does a penny look like?
A B C D E
F G H I J
K L M N O
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A B C D E
F G H I J
K L M N O
What does a penny look like?
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Memory & Gist
• Memory is better for meaningful significant features than for details of language or perception
• “Gist” is remembered better than detail
• How do we then remember details if these are missing from memory?
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Reconstructive nature of memory
• Details can be filled in or reconstructed during encoding or retrieval
• Reconstructive view of memory: Memory =
actual events + schematic knowledge + other experiences + expectations
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Some types of memory errors
• Intrusions from schematic knowledge
• Intrusions from semantic associations
• Misinformation effect
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Effect of Schematic Knowledge on Memory
A simple demonstration experiment
I am going to show you a picture of a graduate student’s office. Just take a look at it for a while
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What do you remember?
Potential responses:
Chairs Desk Table Boxes
Bottle of wine Picnic basket
Books Skull
Brewer & Treyens (1981): 30% of subjects (falsely) recalled that books were present
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False memories due to “office schema”
Brewer & Treyens (1981)
Schema = knowledge of the typical components of an experience.
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Verbal labels can distort visual memories
Carmichael, Hogan, & Walter (1932)
Our schematic knowledge activated by the verbal label can be used to fill in missing details when there is not a complete visual memory
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Instrusions from Semantic Associations: DRM Paradigm (Deese, Roediger, McDermott)
• Study the following words:
• Recall test ....
• Recognition memory test. Was the following word on the list? Use ratings 1) clearly not 2) probably not 3) maybe yes 4) sure yes
• TEST:
BED REST AWAKE TIRED DREAM WAKE SNOOZE BLANKET DOZE SLUMBER SNORE NAP PEACE YAWN DROWSY
SNORE REST COFFEE SLEEP
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Recall Results
• Critical lures (“sleep”) are words not presented but similar to studied words. These words are often falsely recalled
• The lure “sleep” was falsely recalled by 61% of Ss.
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[Slide courtesy of Roddy Roediger
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Recognition Results
proportion of items classified with confidence levels:
confidence rating 4 3 2 1
studied items .75 .11 .09 .05 not studied unrelated .00 .02 .18 .80 critical lure .58 .26 .08 .08
(e.g. “REST”)
(e.g. “COFFEE”) (e.g. “SLEEP”)
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Implications of DRM experiment
• Shows influence of semantic associations
• Shows that confidence can be high for incorrect responses
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Accuracy and Confidence
• Eyewitness testimony requires accuracy and confidence
– “eyewitness testimony is likely to be believed by jurors, especially when it is offered with a high level of confidence” (Loftus, 1979)
– That's him! I'm absolutely positive! I'll never forget that face as long as I live!”
– Confidence is correlated with accuracy but there are a few circumstances where confidence is uninformative or even inversely correlated with accuracy
(Wells & Bradfield,1999; Loftus & Busey) For a real-world example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2OegI6wvI
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Misinformation Effect / Suggestibility
• Memories can be distorted by false suggestions provided by other people after the event
• Loftus & Palmer, 1974:
– "How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?“
– "How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?"
Elizabeth Loftus
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Results of Loftus and Palmer study
AVERAGE SPEED ESTIMATES
FOR DIFFERENT VERBS ________________________________
smashed 40.8 mph collided 39.3 mph bumped 38.1 mph hit 34.0 mph contacted 31.8 mph
________________________________
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Loftus, Miller, and Burns (1978)
One group of participants saw a yield sign
Subjects are shown a series of slides showing a pedestrian getting hit
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Loftus et al. (Contd.)
• Answered a series of 20 questions
• Experimental condition (misinformation): – Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was at
the stop sign? (this group of participants actually saw a yield sign)
• Control condition:
– Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at the intersection
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Loftus et al. (Contd.)
• Pairs of slides -- asked to pick the one they saw
• Control condition: 85% picked correct sign • Experimental condition: 38% picked correct sign
(correct) (incorrect)
Scene with Yield sign Scene with Stop sign
OR
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Explaining Misinformation / Suggestibility Effect
• Two explanations – Overwriting
• misleading information “overwrites” the original memory trace
– Source confusion / Misattribution • The original event and misinformation are stored in
separate memory traces • The memory of the misinformation is confused with
the memory of the visual scene
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Evidence against overwriting hypothesis McCloskey and Zaragoza (1985)
• See event: yield sign
• Replication of the original experiment – Some subjects received misinformation: “…as the car passed the stop sign” – Test:
yield sign OR stop sign
– Results: 72% correct in control condition 37% correct in misled condition
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Evidence against overwriting hypothesis McCloskey and Zaragoza (1985)
• See event: yield sign • Modified experiment
– Some subjects received misinformation: “…as the car passed the stop sign?” - Test the correct answer against a new foil yield sign OR no U-turn Results: 75% correct in control condition 72% correct in misled condition
In misled condition, performance is much better than chance AND it is about the same as control condition
This is inconsistent with overwriting hypothesis
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Relevance to Criminal Justice System • most obvious case
– crime study
– picture of suspect (mugshot) misinformation
– Lineup test
• Eyewitness may recognize suspect from mugshot, not from crime scene.
• Conclusions: – Interrogate without asking leading questions
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60 Minutes video segment (2 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ldO66qrb0 http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4852622n&tag=mncol;lst;5
Video clip available at:
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Misinformation Actual person
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1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
Traditional Photo Lineup
Identify the person you saw earlier in the slides
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Issues with photo lineups
• Big problem:
– Eyewitnesses often assume perpetrator is in lineup
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Alternative Lineup: Sequential Presentation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Recent research suggests that the sequential lineup is NOT better than the simultaneous lineup (Mickes et al., 2012; Gronlund et al., 2012; Dobolyi & Dodson, 2013; Carlson & Carlson, in press).
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Balancing lineups: no individual should stand out
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Real-world Lineup: Who is guilty?
46%
(from Geoff Loftus)
(A) (B) (C)
(D) (E) (F)
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Conclusions and Implications
• Remembering = “reconstructing” not reciting
• Reconstruction is good most of the time, but can lead to errors
• Errors can have adverse consequences in eyewitness situations: Faulty eyewitness testimony is the single largest factor leading to false convictions (Wells, 1998) – 36 of 40 convictions overturned based on DNA
evidence involved mistaken identifications