Reliability of Memories
Many times, people involved in the criminal justice system or law field tend to influence the memories of witnesses in regard to events, crime scenes both intentionally and unintentionally. This can be done by leading questions or reinforcing memories while making certain points during a recap of what the witness had said. It is quite possible to make the witness himself believe that it happened. Memories come from an individual's comprehension of an experience both consciously and unconsciously. These memories can be altered further by subsequent recall. We often selectively recall certain points or memories better than others unconsciously. Any account of a memory will include forgotten details or gaps. People can "remember" events that they have not experienced in reality.
Factors Effecting Memory Retention
1) Degree of Attentiveness - Attentiveness is used in engraving information into memory; attention deficits can radically reduce memory performance. You can improve your memory capacity by making a conscious effort to repeat and integrate information.
2) Strength of motivation - It is easier to learn when the subject fascinates you. Thus, motivation is a factor that enhances memory. Some young people who do not always do very well at the subjects they are forced to take in school often have a phenomenal memory for statistics about their favorite sports.
3) Affective values associated with the material to be memorized, and the individual’s mood and intensity of emotion - Your emotional state when an event occurs can greatly influence your memory of it. Thus, if an event is very upsetting, you will form an especially vivid memory of it. For example, many people remember where they were when they learned about President Kennedy’s assassination, or about the attacks of September 11, 2001. The processing of emotionally charged events in memory involves norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that is released in larger amounts when we are excited or tense. As Voltaire put it, that which touches the heart is engraved in the memory.
4) Location, light, sounds, smells...in short, the entire context in which the memorizing takes place is recorded along with the information being memorizes. our systems are thus contextual. Consequently, when you have trouble remembering a particular fact, you may be able to retrieve it by recollecting where you learned it or the book from which you learned it. Was there a picture on that page? Was the information toward the top of the page, or the bottom? Such items are called “recall indexes”. And because you always memorize the context along with the information that you are learning, by recalling this context you can very often, by a series of associations, recall the information itself.
2) Strength of motivation - It is easier to learn when the subject fascinates you. Thus, motivation is a factor that enhances memory. Some young people who do not always do very well at the subjects they are forced to take in school often have a phenomenal memory for statistics about their favorite sports.
3) Affective values associated with the material to be memorized, and the individual’s mood and intensity of emotion - Your emotional state when an event occurs can greatly influence your memory of it. Thus, if an event is very upsetting, you will form an especially vivid memory of it. For example, many people remember where they were when they learned about President Kennedy’s assassination, or about the attacks of September 11, 2001. The processing of emotionally charged events in memory involves norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that is released in larger amounts when we are excited or tense. As Voltaire put it, that which touches the heart is engraved in the memory.
4) Location, light, sounds, smells...in short, the entire context in which the memorizing takes place is recorded along with the information being memorizes. our systems are thus contextual. Consequently, when you have trouble remembering a particular fact, you may be able to retrieve it by recollecting where you learned it or the book from which you learned it. Was there a picture on that page? Was the information toward the top of the page, or the bottom? Such items are called “recall indexes”. And because you always memorize the context along with the information that you are learning, by recalling this context you can very often, by a series of associations, recall the information itself.
Sources:
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci.3.081806.112757
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3757/is_200101/ai_n8946437/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/law_in_action/7458536.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4312689.ece
http://www.lawiki.org/lawwiki/Witness_Refreshing_Memory
http://www.marginalia.co.uk/journal/07trial/kane.php
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Eyewitness_memory
http://www.evoyage.com/BillsEssays/criminal.html
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_07/a_07_p/a_07_p_tra/a_07_p_tra.html#3
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/114709.php
http://www.musingsandtangents.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/lady_justice.jpg
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci.3.081806.112757
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3757/is_200101/ai_n8946437/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/law_in_action/7458536.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4312689.ece
http://www.lawiki.org/lawwiki/Witness_Refreshing_Memory
http://www.marginalia.co.uk/journal/07trial/kane.php
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Eyewitness_memory
http://www.evoyage.com/BillsEssays/criminal.html
http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_07/a_07_p/a_07_p_tra/a_07_p_tra.html#3
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/114709.php
http://www.musingsandtangents.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/lady_justice.jpg
