Eye Witness Testimony

Some of the most important research related to memories and cognitive psychology is about Eye Witness Testimony (EWT). EWT is a legal term used in courtrooms, by police and other authorities. EWT refers to when someone witnesses an illegal act for example a robbery, a rape, or a situation that could be lead to further investigation. EWT is still crucial in discovering someone’s guilt or innocence in court, despite the fact that much research has proved that one cannot entirely rely on one’s memory.
There are a variety of reasons that could affect people’s ability to recall events that they have witnessed, and they are divided in two areas. One is called witness factors, for example their age, culture, race, and how they react under pressure

They have conducted a lab test were forty-five students were separated in groups to watch short videos of car accidents. Participants were then asked to recall what they have watched. The experiment have used independent variable such as the question ‘how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?’ The others groups have received questions with the verb hit being replaced by other verbs such as ‘smashed’, ‘collided’, ‘bumped’, and ‘contacted’. The results showed that participants were not recalling the speed accurately, as they were estimating the speed of the cars according to the dependent variable, such as the meaning of the verbs replaced within the questions. For example participants that have received questions with aggressive verbs such as ‘hit’ and ‘smashed’, have estimated a higher car speed compared to the ones that received questions with non-aggressive verbs such as ‘contacted’. This experiment has shown the negative affect on EWT accuracy, as misleading questions can completely influence and distort an individual’s perception. This experiment was performed in a lab environment, with efficient management of extraneous variables; and it has shown consistent results accuracy whilst being repeated by other