The cognitive science of eyewitness memory

Recent insights from cognitive science have reshaped our understanding of the reliability of eyewitness memory. Many believe that eyewitness memory is unreliable, but a better way to think is that eyewitness memory, like other kinds of forensic evidence, can be contaminated. Because contaminated evidence yields unreliable results, the focus should be placed on testing uncontaminated memory evidence collected early in a police investigation. The recent application of theories, principles, and methods from cognitive science has revealed that both in the lab and in the real world, the first test of uncontaminated memory provides much more reliable information than previously thought. Moreover, and critically, this reliable but often-ignored evidence frequently points in the direction of a convicted defendant’s innocence.