WHY WITNESSES TO ACCIDENTS MAKE MISTAKES: THE COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY OF HUMAN MEMORY. IN: HUMAN FACTORS IN TRAFFIC SAFETY

Scientific research has shown that human memory is far from literally accurate, even though people often describe from memory events they have observed and usually consider their descriptions to be accurate. Described here will first be the factors that affect how accurately events are observed and recorded into memory, and then the factors that affect how accurately events are recalled. Followed will be discussion on: retention of memory for experienced events; forgetting of memory; improvement in recall and recovery of memory; the way memory for everyday and unusual events differs in accuracy; individual differences: do some people have better memories than others?; the surprising lack of a relationship between confidence and accuracy; the surprising lack of a relationship between confidence and accuracy; and, when are two witnesses better that one?.