Accuracy of Eyewitness Memory

 Accuracy of EM

The accuracy of EM has been a highly debatable topic in the history of Psychology and judiciary because it is often incomplete and sometimes even erroneous. And interestingly the false memories tend to remain intact over a period of time than the true memories (Shapira & Pansky, 2019). This has motivated the researchers to examine this

phenomenon in detail. Experiments suggested that it is difficult to recall the exact details of the event due to high volatility of the cognitive system of human beings. The accuracy of eyewitness memory is dependent upon the processing of information. Schachter (1999), suggested that the low rate of accuracy is the result of shallow processing of observations by the witness.

 

Factors affecting the Accuracy of EM

(i)  Stereotypes and prejudice - Allport demonstrated that our prejudices also distort our memories (cited in Lahey, 2007). Bana ji & Bhaskar, 1999 demonstrated that this phenomenon distorts the memory (Showing name of criminals to the participants).

(ii)  The situational factors - In violent crimes the higher number of preparators decreases (as low as 27%) the accuracy of identification (Clifford & Hollin, 1981).

(iii)  Recall of “Repressed Memories” of sexual and physical abuse (Kidnapping of Jean Piaget as a child). The distortions of actual events and suggestive questioning can sometimes lead to creation of false memories.

(iv)  Factors related to the eyewitness - Some of them are sex, age (Children and adolescents’ eyewitness testimony is more susceptible to distortion than adults due to intellectual deficiency), intelligence, personality, face recognition skills, intoxication (intoxication reduces the accuracy of recall), mood (the recall of the information will be best when his mood is same as when the individual has learned the information for the

first time), level of stress, temperament, psycho-physiological disability, state of consciousness, emotional response, nature of immediate response, loss of sleep, imagination capacity etc.

(v)  Time - The larger the gap between the occurrence of an event and recall the lesser will be the accuracy.

(vi)  Hypnosis and EM - The hypnosis has been used to regress an individual into the past. In 1976 a bus driver in the US recalled the number plate of the vehicle of children’s kidnapper. However, the evidence suggests that under hypnosis the individual can recall the events that never happened. More scientific studies are needed to establish it as a valid technique.

(vii)  The biased, suggestive and inaccurate questioning – The undistorted and non-suggestive type questions help in extracting accurate information.

(viii)  Misinformation effect - The manipulated post event information supplied to the witness creates a confusion in the mind of the witness, who tend to include that information in his/her account. If post event information is consistent with the original event the accuracy of recall is 75% while it is 41% when post-event information is inconsistent and 50% in case of neutral information (Singh, 2014).

(ix)  Source-monitoring error - It occurs when a person attributes a memory derived from one source to another source.

(x)  Forced reporting - The witnesses who are coerced or forced to report an event tend to compromise the accuracy of the information.

(xi)  Other race effects -The people find it harder to identify people of other races compromising the accuracy of identification and recall.

(xii)  Exposure time - The shorter the exposure of criminal activity by the witness lesser the accuracy of recalled information.

(xiii)  Fear or stress due to the presence of weapons at the crime scene.

 

Miscarriage of Justice

(i)  Gopal Shete’s, a hotel manager, case (Convicted of Rape in 2009 and served 7 years in Jail).

(ii)  Madhubala Mondal 59 year old women case (3 years in Jail)

(iii)  Vishnu Tiwari case (Convicted of Rape at the age of 23 and released from jail at the age of 43 after spending 20 years in Agra jail).

(iv)  Santosh case (accused of rape, later DNA test proved his innocence and acquitted by court, 15 Lakh compensation).

(v)  Rudul Shah case, 1983 (Rudul Sah was arrested in 1953 on charges of murdering his wife. He was acquitted by an Additional Sessions Judge, in 1968, who directed his release from jail, pending further orders. Rudul Sah languished in jail for 14 years after his acquittal, until his plight was highlighted in the media in 1982 and led to the filing of the PIL on his behalf).

 

References:

Banaji, M. R., & Bhaskar, R. (1999). Implicit stereotypes and memory: The bounded rationality of social beliefs. In D. L. Schachter & E. Scarry (Eds.) Memory, brain and belief. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Clifford, B. R., & Hollin, C. R. (1981). Effects of the type of incident and the

number of perpetrators on eyewitness memory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66(3), 364–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.66.3.364.

Lahey, B. B. (2007). Psychology An introduction. McGraw Hill.

Pansky, A., & Nemets, E. (2012). Enhancing the quantity and accuracy of

eyewitness memory via initial memory testing. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1(1), 2–10. doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2011.06.001

Shapira, A. A., & Pansky, A. (2019). Cognitive and metacognitive determinants of

eyewitness memory accuracy over time. Metacognition and Learning. doi:10.1007/s11409-019-09206-7

सिंह, ए. के. (2014). उच्चतर सामान्य मनोविज्ञान: मोतीलाल बनारसीदास

 

 

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