Can fabricated evidence induce false eyewitness testimony?

Kimberley A. Wade*, Sarah L. Green, Robert A. Nash

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

False information can influence people's beliefs and memories. But can fabricated evidence induce individuals to accuse another person of doing something they never did? We examined whether exposure to a fabricated video could produce false eyewitness testimony. Subjects completed a gambling task alongside a confederate subject, and later we falsely told subjects that their partner had cheated on the task. Some subjects viewed a digitally manipulated video of their partner cheating; some were told that video evidence of the cheating exists; and others were not told anything about video evidence. Subjects were asked to sign a statement confirming that they witnessed the incident and that their corroboration could be used in disciplinary action against the accused. See-video subjects were three times more likely to sign the statement than Told-video and Control subjects. Fabricated evidence may, indeed, produce false eyewitness testimony; we discuss probable cognitive mechanisms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)899–908
Number of pages10
JournalApplied Cognitive Psychology
Volume24
Issue number7
Early online date20 Aug 2009
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2010

Bibliographical note

Nominated by Graham Davies – Editor in Chief to be re-published in Special Issue: Celebrating 25 years of Applied Cognitive Psychology: Volume 25, Issue S1, pages S272–S282, January 2011.

From the archive: ‘Can fabricated evidence induce false eyewitness testimony?’ by K. A. Wade, S. L. Green, & R. A. Nash (2010). Applied Cognitive Psychology, 24, 899–908 with commentary. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/acp.1777

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