Our brain actively encodes, stores, and retrieves a lot of information throughout our lives. The memory is the repetition of learning through this process. It has three stages: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. The sensory memory is the brief storage of the sensory information, and the short-term memory holds few items that last longer than the sensory memory. The short-term memory becomes the long-term memory through elaborative rehearsal, which is making the information meaningful by making connections with prior knowledge or personal experience. These encoded and stored information are not always accurate. The memory is a constructive process, so we tend to fill or alternate the missing pieces of information to make it more understandable. Also, it can be modified by post-event information. Therefore, what we believe to be true in memory might be wrong. There was a case of a man who lived in prison for 17 years because of the misinformation of the brain.
In November 2001, Royal Clark Jr., who was 24 years old at that time, got convicted of an armed robbery at the Burger King in Terrytown, Louisiana. The fingerprints from the scene were unusable for DNA testing, and the only evidence was the witness by a 19 years old boy who was sure that Clark was the robber. With that one eyewitness, Clark was found guilty and sentenced to 49 and a half years. Then 17 years later, the Innocence Project New Orleans took his case and reinvestigated. They reanalyze the fingerprint that was unusable back in the day, and it matched to Jessie Perry, who has the history of several armed robberies in the same area. Clark was proven his innocence and released from prison. This case clearly shows the jeopardy of the misinformation of the eyewitnesses. Nancy Franklin, a psychology professor at Stony Brook University who is a specialist in memory, explains that the “mugshot exposure phenomenon” causes false eyewitness testimony. She said that eyewitnesses often think they recognize them from the crime scene, but in fact, they got familiarized with their faces from the mugshot. This case best illustrates the effect of the misinformation of the brain.
This does not mean that all of our memories are untrue, but we should be aware that there are some alternated memories.
Reference:
“How Faulty Eyewitness Testimony Can Lead to Wrongful Convictions.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 9 Sept. 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/faulty-eyewitness-testimony-can-lead-to-wrongful-convictions/.
Hey! I really enjoyed reading about this case. I liked how you discussed how big of an impact an altered memory can have on another person’s life. I have heard of many cases where a witness falsely accuses someone based on a memory that is implanted after the event takes place. In one of the worst cases, I read that a man was put on death row for a murder and, after further investigation, was proven innocent due to an unreliable witness. In milder cases, memories can be altered after time goes by. My parents sometimes disagree about something that happened 15 or so years ago because they are starting to not be able to retrieve long-term memories. Also, I believe that many childhood memories are altered by what my sisters or parents said about that event. I remembered when we sent some of our pigs to a bigger farm. For years, I remembered that we said goodbye to the pigs and really believed that they were going to a bigger farm. It was years later that it came up in conversation and my parents told me that we were eating the pigs a short while after their trip to the “big farm”. My memory was manipulated to believe something that wasn’t true. It is completely understandable that memories can be altered so that you whole-heartedly believe that something is true when it can be completely wrong.
I really liked your post, the information you used to explain the different stages of memory was clear and provided a great understanding. I thought the case study you used was really interesting and it reminded me a lot of the video we viewed in class about the false memory of Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton. I’ve experienced a less severe and life altering case of altered memories. My high school had a wild animal on its campus once and it was a commotion. I remember the event very clearly but about 2 years after the incident we had to do an assignment about it for a class and it was interesting to see the differing accounts on the story. Some people’s stories matched my memory while others did not. It is interesting to see and think about how everyone memories are different and how continuous retrieval of memories over time changes them. It is also strange to think about how with some memories you have no idea if they are real or false, because in my instance I believe my memory is true and there are others who have the same account while other people’s memory differ from my own.
I really enjoyed reading your post because I’m a forensic science major and I will be involved in similar cases in the future. It’s unfortunate but false eyewitness testimonies happen pretty frequently in cases, especially in the past before DNA and fingerprint analysis were a thing. I remember in my forensic class last semester we learned about the mugshot phenomenon. I learned eyewitness testimony is fairly inaccurate due to misinformation in the brain. It was said that if a witness was given several pictures of potential suspects and they don’t pick an image within seconds, it’s most likely none of them are actually the assailant. Memory should be activated within seconds of viewing the photographs however, if the witness takes several minutes to examine the photographs and then choose one, they are most likely relying on misinformation, and possibly are implanting memories in their minds in order to pick out a suspect.