Eyewitness memory for events: the role of trauma and intoxicatio

SPEAKER: Dr Lauren Monds, University of Sydney 

Eyewitness evidence is often crucial not only for solving a crime, but also to facilitate successful prosecution in court. However, memory is reconstructive in nature and can be susceptible to error, including the development of false memories. It is important to consider the factors which may contribute to memory errors in order to inform ways to elicit more reliable testimony. Dr Lauren Monds has a program of research which covers two relevant factors: trauma responses and drug and alcohol intoxication. Lauren will present research demonstrating that some trauma responses may actually increase accurate recall, whereas others may promote false memory susceptibility. She will also detail her more recent research focus on memory reliability when people are intoxicated on alcohol or other drugs during an event, along with future directions for combining the two research areas.