Effects of postidentification feedback misinformation on eyewitness memory for the culprit

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2011-01-01
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Smalarz, Laura
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Gary L. Wells
Stephanie Madon
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Altmetrics
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Psychology
The Department of Psychology may prepare students with a liberal study, or for work in academia or professional education for law or health-services. Graduates will be able to apply the scientific method to human behavior and mental processes, as well as have ample knowledge of psychological theory and method.
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Psychology
Abstract

This research extended the traditional conceptualization of the postidentification feedback effect beyond retrospective self-reports to include the effects of feedback on eyewitnesses' recognition memory for the originally-witnessed culprit. Participant-witnesses made inaccurate identifications and were given confirming, disconfirming, or no feedback. Forty-eight hours later, witnesses were tested on their recognition memory for the culprit originally viewed. Disconfirming feedback inhibited witnesses' ability to discriminate between the culprit and never-before-seen filler photos. Witnesses who did not receive feedback showed the highest memory performance overall. These results provide preliminary support for the idea that postidentification feedback negatively affects eyewitness recognition memory.

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Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2011