Discuss how psychological research into false memories has improved Essay

Discuss how psychological research into false memories has improved the reliabilty of eyewitness testimony - Essay Example The most important variables in eyewitness identification include perception, memory, communication and candour of the eyewitness. However, it has been a tough job for even trained observers to make accurate identification of the eyewitness. In this background, research in cognitive psychology on the subject of false memories proves to be greatly invaluable and such studies influence the reliability of eyewitness testimony immensely. As Daniel L. Schacter purports, experimental and theoretical studies of memory reveal that errors, distortions, and illusions are fundamental aspects of remembering and recollection. For the last two decades, there has been renewed interest in memory errors and distortions within psychotherapy and neuropsychology. â€Å"It is in the context of this debate that the term ‘false memory’ has come into common usage in psychological research. False memories refer to recollections that are in some way distorted or, in extreme cases, involve rememb ering events that never happened at all.† (Schacter, 1999, p. 193). Therefore, psychological research into false memories can greatly contribute to the reliability of eyewitness testimony and this paper makes a reflective exploration of how such examinations can improve the reliability of eyewitness testimony. ... The findings in the recent studies on the development of false memories prove that benign memories can be distorted in various ways during the process of encoding and retrieval. As Rowland W. Folensbee maintains, â€Å"research into false memories does not call into question the existence of memory processes that could maintain implicit traumatic memories. In fact, recent neuroimaging research offers support for the existence of flashbacks that not connected to explicit memory processes. (Folensbee, 2007, p. 119). Therefore, the recent studies on the process of recovering implicit memories have introduced a new way of understanding the working of false memories and these researches contribute to the comprehension of the fundamental aspects of memory. It is fundamental to realize that the cognitive psychologists have identified the occurrence of false memories and the recent experimental research in the area contributes to a better analysis of false memories. The significant connecti on between the recent psychological research into false memories and the reliability of eyewitness testimony cannot be questioned, because the developments in this area of neuropsychological research have contributed to the reliability of eyewitness testimony. One of the core aspects of the judicial process has been the reliability of eyewitness testimony and every attempt to improve its validity has great implications in legal psychology. According to Tversky and Fisher, it is fundamental for the participants in the judicial process to recognize the fallibility of witness memories. (Tversky and Fisher, 2000). The recent studies in neuropsychology concerning human memory focus on the susceptibility of the