Research findings suggest that memory can be influenced in a number of ways. Errors in everything from sensory information, to encoding, to retrieval can affect an individual’s ability to recall information accurately.  This is particularly important when we look at the role of an eye-witness in a criminal hearing. Eye-witness testimonies play a large role in deciding the outcome of criminal cases. An eye-witness testimony refers to an account given by people, of an event that they have themselves witnessed. These testimonies have a powerful impact on jurors whom decide the fate of people on a daily basis. With that great of an influence, it is important that these testimonies are as accurate as possible. Recent finding however, have raised questions as to exactly how accurate these testimonies really are. As of 2012, DNA evidence has exonerated 341 people in the United States who had been wrongly convicted of a crime. (Goldstein, 2015) Of those individuals, 65% were convicted in cases that included an eye-witness testimony. (Goldstein, 2015) There is a case to be made that there are some deficiencies in eye-witness testimony and they begin with an individual’s ability to recall information, and the interference that may occur.

Contrary to popular belief, memories are not exact replicas of the original event. Two people standing the same distance from an event, my see the event in completely different ways. Perception plays a huge role in how we remember things. Top-down, and Bottom-up processing heavily influence our perception, so it is safe to say that our individual experiences play a role in how we are able to recall information. This often leads to situations where multiple eye-witnesses will have completely different stories. For instance, two people could witness a domestic dispute, and have a different testimony as to who was the aggressor, based on how they perceived the event to occur.

Another factor that can affect the ability of an eye-witness to recall information accurately is conditions, and disabilities. I recently served on jury duty, and the case I was on used an eye-witness testimony. The witness claimed to see the defendant put a black backpack in a garbage can. The black back pack was found by police with drugs and a firearm. The eyewitness testified that the defendant was the person they saw put the backpack in the trash can. It was however dark outside, and the eyewitness wore glasses, and the defense attorney argued that it was impossible to actually see the suspects face. The eye-witness eventually admitted that they hadn’t had a clean look at the suspects face. The eye-witness pointed out that they frequent the area, and the suspect shared “a lot of similarities” with the individuals whom usually hang out in that area. The eye-witness let their personal experiences insert bias into their testimony, but it could also be argued that being dark outside, and having vision issues also played a role.

There have been countless examples showing that eye-witness testimony is not as reliable as once was thought. Numerous convictions have been overturned due to advances in technology and the use of DNA. As we begin to better understand memory and how it works, we are finding that memory is not an exact copy of what has occurred. Taking that into consideration, we must look at eye-witness testimony not as a finite answer to what has occurred, but as an unintentionally biased account from an individual perspective.

Goldstein, E. B. (2015). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Stamford: Cengage Learning.

In terms of medicine and technology, we are living in a very exciting time. Advancements in these two areas, have had a large, positive effect on the overall quality of life for individuals, as people are living longer than ever before. As individuals age however, they tend to experience physical and mental declines, as the body and mind aren’t created to efficiently work forever. There has been much research around how age affects the minds ability to process information. One particular topic of interest, is the effect of age on short-term or working memory “loss”.

Short-term or working memory, is the short-duration memory process used to store small amounts of information for brief periods of time. Considered to be “our window on the present”, it is defined as “a limited capacity system for temporary storage and manipulation of information for complex tasks such as comprehension, learning, and reasoning.(Goldstein, 2015) Often referred to as “the brain’s Post-It note”, short-term memory is able to hold a small amount of information, about 7 items or less, active and easily accessible in the mind, for about 15 seconds. Short-term memory works by storing small amounts of information until new information presents itself. Consisting of the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketch pad, and the central executive, sensory information is encoded, stored, and used according to the central executive. The phonological loop is responsible for the holding and processing of verbal, and auditory information, while the visuospatial sketch pad holds visual and spatial information.

Recently, I was having a conversation with my mother, where I was explaining to her how to use some computer software to run reports. We sat down and reviewed the steps in the procedure, as I showed her exactly what she needed to do. I live about 10 minutes away from her, and by the time I had returned home, she was calling me because she couldn’t remember the steps. Between the time I had left and returned home, she had taken a few minutes to get the results of some tennis matches that had occurred earlier in the day. As I began explaining the information to her, she remembered the directions without me having to walk her through the information all over again.

This event is an example of the effects of age on short-term or working memory. There has been much research that suggests that in many cases, the effects of age on memory doesn’t necessarily result in actual “loss” of memory, but instead of some sort of impairment in memory processing. An article out of the Journals of Gerontology cites research that suggests that aging slows the access to temporal information from short-term or working memory. The results of the study suggest that older individuals don’t necessarily forget information, but have a “slower deployment of controlled memory operations. (Asli, Zeynep & Oztekin, 2017) These finding can be used to explain why my mother had a difficult time recalling information she had just received. The information was in her phonological loop, but due to retroactive interference (the tennis results she looked up), she was unable to recall the information efficiently. Once I began to explain, (which made the report directions the more recent information), the tennis results suffered the retroactive interference, and she began to recall the report information.

It has been well established that aging causes a decline in the performance across various memory tasks. As we grow older, we experience physiological changes that can impair brain functioning. In many instances, it becomes more difficult to learn (encode) and recall (retrieve) information. This affects individuals’ ability to remember information and explains much of the perceived memory impairment associated with older age.

Aslı Kılıç, Zeynep Ceyda Sayalı, Ilke Öztekin; Aging Slows Access to Temporal Information From Working Memory, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Volume 72, Issue 6, 1 October 2017, Pages 996–1005, https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1093/geronb/gbw003

Goldstein, E. (2015). Short-Term and Working Memory. In COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (4th ed., pp. 119-149). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Perception is thought of as the way we see or understand something. Generally speaking, we can define perception as our “view’” on something, but what does our “view” entail. How is it possible that two individuals can look at the same object from a distance, and have two different interpretations of what they are seeing? Why do people come to opposite conclusion when making decisions from the same information? Psychologists have long studied what affects individuals’ perceptions. Considering the differences that individuals have in regards to interpreting the same information, there must be more to perception than what meets the eye.

Psychology defines perception as experiences, resulting from the stimulation of senses. Experiences are key here, because each individual’s experiences are unique, and are driven in large part by their environment. We learned in Chapter 3 of our text that human perception is completed in two parts. There is bottom-up processing, where the environment stimulates human receptors, and then there is top-down processing, which is the processing that occurs as a direct result of individual experience and knowledge. Each part of the process plays an important role in how an individual will ultimately interpret what their receptors are sensing.

I recently viewed a video on social media where a comedian was asking for her fans to boycott Netflix. She was upset that she was offered less money than her counterparts to host a comedy special. The bosses at Netflix and the comedian both have two different perceptions of the same situation. From the comedian’s standpoint, they have already laid a foundation for their work. While they may not have done any major work in a few years, the awards and recognition received in the past should still stand for something. The Netflix bosses are taking a more what have you done for me lately approach. They are trying to generate views, which will generate dollars, and they don’t feel they can afford to pay an artist without a currently large following, as much as one who is more relevant. In turn, you have competing viewpoints, or perceptions. The comedian’s perceptions are biased and driven by past work and accomplishments, and the Netflix bosses’ perceptions, are biased by their goal of making money. They are viewing the exact same situation, through bottom-up processing, but their top-down processing differs, which creates a situation where the two sides perceptions are at odds.

When we think of perception, and how we view things, psychology teaches us we have to think deeper than just what we see. We have to look at why we perceive things a certain way. Why can two individuals interpret the same thing so differently? While the raw information that our receptors pick up is similar, the top-down processing that occurs is unique to each individual, and that is what drives how we interpret the information we receive.