Perceptual load affects eyewitness accuracy and susceptibility to leading questions
| dc.contributor.author | Murphy, Gillian | |
| dc.contributor.author | Greene, Ciara M. | |
| dc.contributor.funder | Irish Research Council | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-10-24T15:41:07Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-10-24T15:41:07Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2016-08-30 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Load Theory (Lavie, 1995, 2005) states that the level of perceptual load in a task (i.e.,the amount of information involved in processing task-relevant stimuli) determines the efficiency of selective attention. There is evidence that perceptual load affects distractor processing, with increased inattentional blindness under high load. Given that high load can result in individuals failing to report seeing obvious objects, it is conceivable that load may also impair memory for the scene. The current study is the first to assess the effect of perceptual load on eyewitness memory. Across three experiments (two video-based and one in a driving simulator), the effect of perceptual load on eyewitness memory was assessed. The results showed that eyewitnesses were less accurate under high load, in particular for peripheral details. For example, memory for the central character in the video was not affected by load but memory for a witness who passed by the window at the edge of the scene was significantly worse under high load. High load memories were also more open to suggestion, showing increased susceptibility to leading questions. High visual perceptual load also affected recall for auditory information, illustrating a possible cross-modal perceptual load effect on memory accuracy. These results have implications for eyewitness memory researchers and forensic professionals. | en |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Irish Research Council (Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (project ID GOIPG/2013/71)) | en |
| dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
| dc.description.version | Published Version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.articleid | 1322 | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Murphy, G. and Greene, C. M. (2016) ‘Perceptual load affects eyewitness accuracy and susceptibility to leading questions’, Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1322. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01322 | en |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01322 | |
| dc.identifier.endpage | 1322-10 | en |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1664-1078 | |
| dc.identifier.journaltitle | Frontiers in Psychology | en |
| dc.identifier.startpage | 1322-1 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10468/3212 | |
| dc.identifier.volume | 7 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Frontiers Media | en |
| dc.rights | © 2016 Murphy and Greene. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | Perceptual load | en |
| dc.subject | Eyewitness memory | en |
| dc.subject | Attention Perception | en |
| dc.subject | Reconstructive memory | en |
| dc.title | Perceptual load affects eyewitness accuracy and susceptibility to leading questions | en |
| dc.type | Article (peer-reviewed) | en |
