Geoffrey Loftus testified about memory during a murder trial in this Lost Coast Outpost article.
Rhonda Parker / Wednesday, Feb. 20 @ 8:17 a.m. / Courts
SoHum Murder Suspect’s Story Changes as Testimony Wraps Up; Psychologist Says Memory Can be Faulty
Confronted with statements he made during recorded phone calls at the jail, murder suspect William Lamar Hinson III took the stand again Tuesday to say he now has different memories about what happened before Georgia tourist Khanh Lam was killed in July 2015 in a Garberville alley...
Ironically, Hinson changing his testimony provided the jury a prime example of what the previous witness, defense expert and memory researcher Dr. Geoffrey Loftus , calls “post-event information.”
Loftus, a retired psychology professor, has studied human memory for 50 years. He was called as a witness to cast doubt on the reliability of eyewitness testimony. This is a major issue for the defense, because three people testified they saw Hinson strike Lam in the head with a piece of wood.
Loftus provided the jury with a science lesson on why eyewitness testimony may be unreliable. He said many factors can skew a person’s memory of an event. That is particularly true if the event is chaotic, as in witnessing a crime when several people are involved.
Loftus said part of a person’s recollection is “conscious experience,” which tends to be valid. But then there is “post-event” information, true or false, that can be incorporated into the memory to fill in the gaps and form a complete story.
Read the entire article here .