CAN A CONTEXTUAL MEMORY AID INCREASE THE ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION?

The cognitive interview uses retrieval cues obtained from reinstatement of the context of an event to aid a witnesses ’ memory. This study focused on whether a piece of evidence from within the context of an event, the shirt worn by a suspect, could help activate retrieval cues and increase the accuracy of description and identification of that suspect by a witness. This research also sought to replicate findings on the advantages of sequential lineups over simultaneous lineups, and the confidence-accuracy correlation. The results of the study did not support the hypothesis that a contextual memory aid would increase the accuracy of identifications and descriptions of a suspect. A modest confidence accuracy relationship was found, but no useful information on lineup types was obtained. This research, in failing to be able to draw any conclusions about the role of contextual memory aids, points out ways in which the field of knowledge surrounding this technique can be advanced