Effects of Self-Reported Sleep Measures on Eyewitness Recall and Identification
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Psychology and Special Education
Date of Award
Summer 2022
Abstract
DNA exonerations have revealed eyewitness misidentification to be one of the leading factors of innocent incarcerations (www.innocenceproject.org). Research has supported the crucial role of sleep in memory formation and retention, but sparce research has investigated how sleep may impact eyewitness memory (e.g., Morgan et al., 2019; Stepan et al., 2017; Thorley, 2013). This thesis seeks to investigate the role of self-reported pre-encoding sleep quality, duration, and current sleepiness on eyewitness central and peripheral recall, and facial recognition memory. If these self-reported measures are predictive of eyewitness accuracy, law enforcement may be able to differentiate between high and low quality eyewitnesses by askingwitnesses simple questions about their sleep the night before a crime. Across two experiments investigating either lineups or showups, participants viewed a mock-crime video, provided recent sleep data, answered recall questions regarding the crime, and made an identification decision.
Advisor
Curt A. Carlson
Subject Categories
Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Fitzsimmons, Corinne Lorraine Kastner, "Effects of Self-Reported Sleep Measures on Eyewitness Recall and Identification" (2022). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 1007.
https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/etd/1007
