Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Spring 2017

Keywords

Inattentional blindness

Abstract

Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions in the United States. Inattentional blindness, the failure to become fully aware of an object or event despite its presence in the center of one’s visual field, may render some eyewitnesses unable to accurately describe the culprit of a crime that had occurred right in front of them. The members of Ira Hyman’s research lab explored the relationship between inattentional blindness and the ability to provide accurate eyewitness testimony. We asked participants to watch a video of a staged theft, instructing the experimental groups to either count the number of people wearing white T-shirts or to watch for the theft. Our control group simply watched the video. We assessed the participants' ability to notice the theft, describe the culprit, and identify the culprit. I then quantified their descriptions of the culprit in order to explore whether inattentional blindness leads to a decreased ability to remember details about the event in question. I found that people who had been focused on counting T-shirts were less likely to notice the theft, and were less able to accurately describe the culprit—instances of inattentional blindness.

Department

Psychology

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

Eyewitness identification--Psychological aspects; Recognition (Psychology)

Genre/Form

student projects; term papers

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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