Validity Of Eyewitness Testimony

Identification of Area
Eyewitness testimonies are a very important area within cognitive psychology and relates directly to the human brain and memory. Cognitive psychology refers to the study of an individual’s internal processes, more specifically how they perceive information, how they learn, remember and think. The way that an individual functions cognitively directly impacts the eyewitness statement that they give, as we all perceive and recall information differently. By questioning the validity of eyewitness testimonies, ultimately we are questioning in what way the function of our memory dictates how much, and what aspects of what we see are remembered. Within today’s judicial system there are many aspects involved when convicting
Throughout trial one of the strongest and most persuasive pieces of evidence given, which is commonly accepted as trustworthy is the eyewitness testimony (Mudd and Govern, 2004). It is this trust and perceived credibility of eyewitness identifications that poses a major problem within the court system regarding unreliability of the witness resulting in false identifications. When eyewitnesses provide correct identifications, it successfully aids the conviction of the culpable person. Although if an eyewitness has provided a flawed testimony, the damages to the innocent person are irreparable as the perpetrator is left unaccountable. Factors that can taint identifications are cross race identifications, the misinformation effect and the contamination of memory due to post event information. Each factor impacts the acquisition, storage or retrieval of cognitive memory, of which at times we have little control
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