Question

Riva, an eyewitness to a crime that took place on her street, was asked to testify in court about her memory of the crime. Prior to her testimony, an attorney provided her with a written statement from another neighbor who had also viewed the crime. As a result of reading her neighbor's statement, which was different from her own, the accuracy of Riva’s memory was altered, which eventually affected her testimony. This is an example of __________.

Answer 1

Answer:

the misinformation effect.

Explanation:

The misinformation effect translates into the possibility of altering the precision with which we recall a witnessed event if, between the moment we observe it and the moment we report it, we are confronted with misleading information. In this case, we can say that Riva suffered the effect of misinformation, because when she read another witness's report, she came across misleading information and was confused about what she saw, which resulted in altering her memory of what happened.