Busted by BS! Eyewitness Memory Isn't Always Reliable

What if our memories aren't as reliable as we believe? A recent study/review by Brassil and colleagues (2024) sheds light on a key vulnerability: misinformation.

Here is the surprising truth: memories aren't like recordings. They're more like reconstructions, priced together over time, making them susceptible to being influenced by new information, even if inaccurate (Brassil et al., 2024).

But there is a glimmer of hope! The study also found that more potent cognitive abilities can buffer against misinformation. People with higher general intelligence, reasoning skills, sound perception, and sharp memories are less likely to be warped by misleading information.

Brassil and colleagues  (2024) analyzed nine studies and identified 23 connections between cognitive abilities and how accurately people remember events they witnessed; here are some key cognitive skills that play a role:

1. General Intelligence (especially non-verbal): This includes your ability to solve problems, think abstractly, and understand visual information.
2. Perceptual abilities: How well you see, hear, and process information from your senses can significantly impact how you remember an event. 
3. Working memory capacity is the ability to hold and manipulate information in one's mind for short periods. Stronger working memory helps one filter distractions and focus on the event's details.
4. Autobiographical memory specificity refers to how well you remember the specifics of recent events in your life. The better you can recall the who, what, where, when, and why of a recent experience, the less susceptible you might be to misinformation.

So, how do these cognitive abilities protect eyewitness memory? Brassil and colleagues (2024) suggest three mechanisms:

• Improved source-monitoring: This is the ability to identify where information came from. Distinguishing between what you actually saw and what you heard later helps you avoid incorporating misinformation.
  
  
  
  
• Enhanced discrepancy detection: This involves spotting inconsistencies between different pieces of information. If you have strong discrepancy detection skills, you're more likely to notice when new information clashes with your original memory of the event.
• Better encoding of the original memory: Encoding is the process of memory formation. More robust encoding creates a more detailed and accurate memory representation. This makes it easier to identify inconsistencies with misleading information later on.

The Bottom Line

Eyewitness memory can be a powerful tool, but awareness of its vulnerabilities is essential. Recognizing the influence of misinformation and the role of cognitive abilities can help us improve the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness accounts in legal settings and everyday life.

References

​​Brassil, M., O’Mahony, C., & Greene, C​. (2024). Do Cognitive Abilities Reduce ​Eyewitness Susceptibility to the Misinformation Effect? A Systematic Review [Review​ of Do Cognitive Abilities Reduce Eyewitness Susceptibility to the Misinformation ​Effect? A Systematic Review]. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review​. Research Gate. ​https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-024-02512-5