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| When Eyewitness Memory Reliably Exonerates the Wrongfully Convicted |
| Monday, May 26, 2025 |
| 8:00 AM–8:50 AM |
| Marriott Marquis, M2 Level, Marquis Salon 6 |
| Area: SCI/EAB; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Marco Vasconcelos (University of Aveiro) |
| CE Instructor: Marco Vasconcelos, Ph.D. |
| Presenting Author: JOHN T. WIXTED (University of California, San Diego) |
| Abstract: Recent insights from the basic science of memory 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 basic 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 prisoner’s innocence. |
| Instruction Level: Basic |
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| JOHN T. WIXTED (University of California, San Diego) |
 John Wixted is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at UC San Diego. He earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Emory University in 1987 and has been a professor at UC San Diego ever since. His research addresses fundamental mechanisms of human memory, both in the lab and in the real world. In recent years, his work has focused on signal-detection models of recognition memory, the neuroscience of memory and amnesia, and eyewitness identification. Professionally, he has served as editor-in-chief of Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (1998-2002), and he later edited the 5-volume 4th edition of the venerable Stevens' Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience (2018). In 2011, he was the recipient of the Howard Crosby Warren Medal for distinction in contemporary research in experimental psychology, and in 2019 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. |
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