Postevent information and the impairment of eyewitness memory : a methodological examination

Recent work in the cognitive psychology of memory suggests that misleading information may permanently alter memory for an event. This work, which takes much of its impetus from the prospect of applying itself to the legal question of eyewitness evidence, has recently come under severe criticism. McCloskey & Zaragoza (1985a, 1985b) provide evidence to suggest that the experimental design used by almost all relevant studies is seriously flawed, and that results which appear to indicate the deleterious effect of misinformation on memory are artefactual. An analysis of the misinformation paradigm is presented here, with particular attention being paid to the claim of artifactuality. Two lines of approach are adopted in the analysis. In the first, the misinformation paradigm is assessed for its theoretical basis. The notion of 'application' that informs the paradigm is subjected to conceptual scrutiny, and the body of research that constitutes the paradigm is reviewed in terms of its applied orientation. In the second line of approach, the claim of artifactuality is investigated directly. Three methods are devised to test the claim of artifactuality. In two of these, post-hoc analyses are performed, one of which suggests that the claim of artifactuality is incorrect in at least some respects. The third method is constituted by an experiment which submits the claim of artifactuality to exhaustive empirical test. The results of the experiment support the claim that findings of memorial alteration are artefactual. The two lines of approach are united by showing how the experimental work developed out of the applied basis of the paradigm.· It is argued that the inadequacies in the experimental design reflect the impoverished theoretical basis of the research. It is further argued that the question regarding the effect that false information has on memory for an event is one that is still. eminently worth pursuing. A few preliminary remarks are made regarding applied considerations relevant to this pursuit.

Grantor

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

1989

Author dc:creator

• Tredoux, Colin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Du Preez, Peter

• Memory

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38815

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38815