Investigating the Effect of Misleading Questions on the Accuracy of Witness Statements

Investigating the Effect of Misleading Questions on the Accuracy of Witness Statements

Aim: To investigate the effect of misleading questions on the accuracy

of witness statements.

Introduction: Reconstructive memory, or the idea of a schema, a mental

framework into which related information or ideas fit together, was

first introduced by Bartlett in 1932. In storing information we may

reconstruct it to fit into our own personal memory, so it conforms to

our existing beliefs, values and expectations. What we remember is

influenced by what we know. Confabulation is the process, when we

unconsciously adapt our memories to fit in with our existing

experiences.

Our experiment was based on the work conducted by Loftus and Zanni on

eye-witness testimony. For example, they did an experiment where

participants were shown a film of mulpitle car accidents, and then

were asked questions, concerning the accidents. There were 2 groups

and they were asked 22 item questions and 6 critical questions. Group

A was asked indefinite article questions, for example “Did you see a

broken headlight?” and group B “Did you see the broken headlight?”.

Indefinite article did not imply as to whether article was present or

not and definite article did imply that it was present. The results,

7% of group A said “yes” and 15% of group B said “Yes” to an item

which was not there, suggests that the wording of the question can

have influence on the answer of the eye-witnesses. So the chance of an

incorrect answer increases if a misleading question is asked.

Another experiment has also been conducted by Loftus and Palmer in

1974, where participants were shown a video of a car accident and were

asked to judge the speed of the cars. The wording of the question

again had an effect on the answer of the participants. The questions

were different in the type of verb that was used, i.e. “About how fast

were the cars going when they hit?”. For 5 different groups the word

“hit” was replaced by smashed, collided, bumped and contacted.