Questions and Answers
What is eyewitness memory?
Eyewitness memory is the recollection of events and details as described by individuals who witnessed the event.
Which memory process involves acquiring information from the environment?
Memory is similar to a video recorder.
False
What is inattentional blindness?
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What can influence a person's perception during an event?
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What does 'tunneling' refer to in memory?
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What is the Yerkes-Dodson law?
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What can create a hole in memory that is vulnerable to being filled by misinformation?
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Study Notes
Eyewitness Memory
- Police heavily depend on eyewitness accounts for investigations, especially initial testimonies when suspects may be present.
- Human memory is critical to legal cases but is susceptible to contamination and distortion.
- Memory is not a precise recording like a video; it is malleable and influenced by various factors.
Eyewitness Testimony
- Stages of eyewitness memory include:
- Acquisition/Encoding: Information is gathered from the environment.
- Storage: Memories are organized for later retrieval.
- Retrieval: Recall of stored information when necessary.
- The memory process can be compared to a library system, but unlike books, human memories are dynamic and changeable.
Factors Affecting Memory Acquisition
- Perception at the event's time influences what is encoded; individuals often fail to perceive all details.
- Key factors include:
- Exposure time
- Lighting conditions
- Distance from the event
- Physical disguises of individuals involved
- Presence of distractions
- Personal expectations and motivations
Inattentional Blindness
- A phenomenon where individuals overlook significant details despite actively looking; illustrated by the "dancing gorilla" experiment.
Influence of Expectations on Memory
- Expectations shape perception; memories might integrate unencoded elements from external sources, potentially introducing biases.
Effects of Stress on Memory
- The relationship between stress and memory is complex; both negative and positive effects have been noted.
- Tunneling: Under stress, individuals may focus on specific details while neglecting others, resulting in a narrow memory scope.
- Flashbulb memories refer to vivid recollections of significant events; however, these memories can be inaccurate over time.
Emotional Impact on Memory
- The Yerkes-Dodson law suggests optimal arousal levels enhance memory, forming an inverted U-shaped relationship where both low and high stress adversely affect recall effectiveness.
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Description
Prepare for your final exam in Psychology and Law with these revised notes. This quiz focuses on the nuances of eyewitness memory and its role in legal proceedings. Understand how human memory affects police accounts and the reliability of testimonies.
