False memories and false eyewitness identifications: are they related?

Memory errors have become a topic of interest to psychologists in many areas. The present study asked if two types of errors of commission were based on the same mechanism, increasing the utility of findings in each area. The Deese/RoedigerMcDermott false memory paradigm (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995) and the unconscious transference eyewitness identification paradigm (Ross, Ceci, Dunning, & Toglia, 1994) represent two tasks in which memory errors occur. Numerous studies exist examining each of these, few if any exist that examine the relationship between false memories and false eyewitness identifications. The current study therefore, utilized tasks from each of the two paradigms in an attempt to determine if a relationship existed. It was hypothesized participants highly susceptible to false memories would be more apt to make false eyewitness identifications than less susceptible subjects. Analyses revealed no relationship between the two tasks. Results are discussed in terms of the underlying mechanisms responsible for these two errors.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Price, Jodi Leigh

Contributors dc:contributor

• Metzger, Richard L.
• College of Arts and Sciences

• Eyewitness identification
• False memory syndrome

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English, eng

Identifier

LB2369.2 .P742 2001

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-2112