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Explain How Eyewitness Memory Affected By Internal Factors, And Schemas

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The question under investigation in the essay is: how is eyewitness memory affected by external and internal factors, and schemas? This question is very important in everyday situations where there is a case of a crime, an accident or murders and there needs to be questions answered. In most of the cases, there probably have been people around when all these crimes occurred who could serve as eyewitnesses in court hearings or police reports. Investigators call these people to help them clear the events that unfolded during the crime, whether it was a burglary or other type of incident. Most of the eyewitness called to give their side of the story most likely have problems remembering what occurred during the day of the crime.
This paper will discuss all those factors which could lead a person into giving inaccurate information during an investigation. Eyewitnesses are a crucial part of an investigation because on them depends the verdict given to the person who supposedly committed a crime. If a person gives an inaccurate testimony to the court …show more content…

An external factor could be thought as something that has nothing to do with what the person is thinking during the crime. The distance between the scene of the crime and the witness is one example of an external factor that could play a role in a later investigation report. The weather and kinds of objects are also thought of as external objects affecting an investigation.
Although it is more common that an eyewitness be an adult sometimes this is not the case in certain occasions. Some of the eyewitnesses could be children as well who have experienced for example some kind of abuse and not necessarily witnessed a crime such as a robbery or accident. However, the same factors which apply to adults also apply to children. These factors could be the type of question asked, the wording of the question and also false

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