Key question

is EWT reliable

an account of a crime given in court by a witness

- innocent individuals being wrongfully convicted
- distrust in society
- reduction of reporting crime
- true perpetrator at large with opportunity to engage in further criminal activity

- Ronald cotton imprisoned for 10 years after a court case depending largely upon ewt

identified that 72% of wrongful convictions were due (wholly or in part) to inaccurate EWT.

lack of forensic evidence

- MSM
- sensory - STM - LTM
- LTM has unlimited capacity and duration so info will not be forgotten
- ewt is reliable

- case study of HM
- STM intact (same as controls)
- LTM was lacking, supporting the organisation of separate stores as proposed by MSM

- info may not be rehearsed and be displaced
- details of crime may be forgotten
- due to not being rehearsed and transferred to LTM
- therefore unreliable

- schemas reconstruct memories as they are made
- alters memory for it to align with prior knowledge
- leads to inaccuracies in memory
- application is cog int

- Loftus and palmer (1974)
- smashed = 40.8
- contacted = 31.8
- (diff of 9)
- ewt unreliable

- suggests CE can shift attention between PL and VSS
- can process and accurately remember both visual and auditory information
- what criminal is wearing + saying
- ewt is reliable

- yuille and cutshall (1986)
- field study
- ewt was very reliable
- ppts remembered over 1000 details and leading qs had little impact
- low reliability
- however dual task paradigm

- too much info handled by the same store will lead to an overload in capacity and subsequent forgetting
- for example listening to both victim and offender or if music is playing
- then details will be forgotten
- implication is that other evidence is needed to accompany ewt

ewt is partially reliable
application of cog int
use alongside forensics
to improve wrongful convictions and trust in society