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Mind

Insight into memories may alter our view of eyewitness testimonies

We seem to generally remember where an object was located, despite forgetting its other details, a discovery that could change how we perceive eyewitness testimonies

By Suhanee Mitragotri

21 February 2024

Our memory for places appears to differ from our other forms of memory

REDPIXEL.PL/Shutterstock

Our memory for the who, what and why of a situation appears to fade over time, but we may be better at remembering where it took place. Understanding how memories can change could have implications for how we judge eyewitness testimonies in criminal cases.

To better understand how memories change, Wilma Bainbridge and her colleagues at the University of Chicago carried out two experiments. In the first, 1609 people were shown images of six scenes – a…

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