Here, the study investigated factors, such as the anxiety levels of the witness, which could influence a person’s eyewitness memory accuracy. I have recently been working with a group of students who have looked at factors that could influence eyewitness memory. More recently, the focus of this research has changed, and researchers are now investigating the factors that are associated with the eyewitness themselves and not the factors that are directly related to the recalled event. Most of the past research has focused upon factors that can affect eyewitness memory, with these factors being specifically related to the actual event that has taken place. This could be due to the amount of information that is required to be recalled in a more violent event (face, act, or weapon) in comparison to a non-violent event where only basic details may need to be remembered. I was recently reading a paper which suggested that when people are asked to recall more violent events, their eyewitness memory may be less accurate. It can be factors such as these which make a witness question their own details of the event to be remembered and in turn, this can lead jurors to conclude that an eyewitness may be unreliable. Research has also shown that the type of event a person is asked to recall can influence the amount of information remembered. It can be suggested that as witnesses become older, their memory declines, meaning they may be seen as a less reliable witness in comparison to a younger witness. There are many factors that have been shown to influence eyewitness testimony such as an age bias relating to both the perpetrator and the witness. It can be suggested that juries should also consider the factors that could influence the recall of events as this is one of the reasons as to why eyewitness testimony may be seen as unreliable. ![]() Within cognitive psychology, eyewitness testimony is heavily researched as juries tend to pay close attention to the details a witness is recalling. ![]() ![]() A person may use eyewitness memory to recall where they were on a specific day, or what was happening at a specific time but they may also use their memory to focus upon what the event meant to them if they had any personal emotions involved. Eyewitness memory is a type of memory that includes both remembering specific events, using episodic memory, and also remembering the meanings associated with the events, using elements of semantic memory.
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