Michael P. Toglia

Bennett L. Schwartz

Mark L. Howe

Henry Otgaar

Human memory, like other biological systems, has been subject to natural selection over the course of evolution. The goal of this volume is to present the best theoretical and empirical work on the adaptive nature of memory. The volume features current and relevant work of cognitive, developmental, and comparative psychologists.

What Is Adaptive about Adaptive Memory?

In many criminal trials, forensic technical evidence is lacking and triers of fact must rely on the reliability of eyewitness statements, identifications, and testimony; however, such reports can be riddled with deceptive statements or erroneous recollections. Based on such considerations, thequestion arises as to how one should weigh such eyewitness accounts given the theoretical and empirical knowledge in this field. Finding the Truth in the Courtroom focuses on how legal professionals, legal/forensic psychologists, and memory researchers can decide when statements or identificationsare based on truthful or fabricated experiences and whether one can distinguish between lies, deception, and false memories. The contributors, key experts in the field, assemble recent experimental work and case studies in which deception or false memory plays a dominant role. Topics discussed relate to the susceptibility to suggestive pressure (e.g., "Under which circumstances are children or adults the most vulnerableto suggestion?"), the fabrication of symptoms (e.g., "How to detect whether PTSD symptoms are malingered?"), and the detection of deceit (e.g., "Which paradigms are promising in deception detection?"), among others. By using this approach, this volume unites diverse streams of research (i.e.,deception, malingering, false memory) that are involved in the reliability of eyewitness statements.

Henry Otgaar

About

Books

Join the club