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Thu 09 Sep 2008Mistaken memories present serious issues for crime solving
MEMORY RESEARCH:RESEARCH ASSESSING people's memories of the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London strongly demonstrates the fallibility of human memory. Such work can have serious implications in areas such as solving crimes, assessing claims of child abuse and eyewitness testimony in courts.
Memories "are not like a video tape you can rewind and replay for perfect recall," said Dr James Ost from Portsmouth University at the Festival of Science in Liverpool. Errors can occur in recall, which in many cases lead to minor social embarrassment but can also have major repercussions.
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