NCJ Number
45535
Date Published
1975
Length
22 pages
Annotation
THE REPORT DEALS WITH THE QUESTION OF HOW BEST TO OBTAIN COMPLETE AND ACCURATE INFORMATION ABOUT AN UNUSUAL EVENT, SUCH AS A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT, FROM A PERSON WHO HAS WITNESSED IT.
Abstract
SPECIFICALLY, THE RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THE INFLUENCE THAT VARIOUS TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED CONCERNING AN EVENT HAVE ON THE ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS, ON THE ANSWERS TO SUBSEQUENT QUESTIONS, AND ON THE WITNESS' MEMORY OF THE INCIDENT HE HAS EXPERIENCED. A MAJOR CONCLUSION IS THAT QUESTIONS ASKED AFTER AN EVENT CAN CONTAIN NEW INFORMATION WHICH BECOMES INTEGRATED INTO THE ORIGINAL MEMORY, CAUSING AN ALTERATION OR A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WITNESS' MEMORY OF THE EVENT. IN MANY OF THE EXPERIMENTS DESCRIBED, SUBJECTS VIEWED A FILM OR A VIDEO TAPE DEPICTING A COMPLEX EVENT LIKE A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT. AFTER THE EVENT, THE SUBJECTS WERE ASKED EITHER NEUTRAL OR BIASED QUESTIONS. THE FORMER PRODUCED MORE ACCURATE ANSWERS. IN OTHER EXPERIMENTS, AFTER BEING ASKED EITHER NEUTRAL OR BIASED QUESTIONS, THE SUBJECT WAITED A PERIOD OF TIME AND WAS THEN RETESTED TO ASSESS THE EFFECTS OF THE INITIAL QUESTIONS. THOSE WHO WERE INITIALLY ASKED BIASED QUESTIONS GAVE BIASED ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ASKED OF THEM LATER. WAYS IN WHICH QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED IN THE MOST NEUTRAL MANNER POSSIBLE ARE SUGGESTED. OTHER FACTORS KNOWN TO AFFECT THE ACCURACY AND COMPLETENESS OF AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT ARE BRIEFLY OUTLINED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED -- VA)