The brain is the most crucial organ in the human body because it helps in the coordination of all activities. It is in the central part of the human nervous system. Some of the functions that are performed by the brain include integration, processing, and coordination of information received from other sensory organs. The data collected also helps in making decisions, which acts as instructions to specific sensory organs. The weight of the human brain is 1.2-1.4kg, with a volume of about 1260cm. However, there is variation depending either if one is male or female. The skull and head bones protect the human brain from any external injuries (Carter 2019). Cerebrospinal fluid is where the brain is suspended in and isolated from the brain stream. The brain divides itself into two that is the left and the right brain, where nerve fibers connect it. The left brain is responsible for controlling all the muscles on the right side while the right brain controls those on the left side. Despite the structures around the brain, it is prone to injuries, damages, diseases, and infections. Low or lack of enough supply of blood to the brain cause damages. Other disorders related to the brain include dementia, Alzheimer's diseases, and Parkinson's diseases.
According to Loftus and Loftus (2019), memory is the summary of all events that one can remember in their lives. It is the ability to learn and adapt from previous events. The memory is part of the brain that is responsible for encoding, storing, and retrieving information. However, there is no specific place in the brain that holds the memories, but various areas form the storage. For instance, the amygdala is a region in the brain that helps in responding to the different emotions. Neurons and nerve cells, usually in small groups, hold memories where they react to stimuli. The firing of neurons helps in the creation and reconstruction of past experiences to assist in solving current issues. Memory recall is one of the essential processors and has three divisions, which are free memory, cued memory, and serial memory. The free memory mostly found in the psychological and education training where people get information, learn and remember their lessons in schools and institutions. Cues memory helps one in remembering data gained from music, colors, visuals, and images. Again, it is also related to differentiating tests and smell. Cues memory occurs naturally, without any triggers or planning. Serial memory happens according to how events present. For instance, it helps in learning languages, letters, and numbers in their correct order. Serial memory is essential for long and short term memory. Memories do not store like books on library shelves, but involves the collection of data and reconstruction from different parts in the brain. Memory is affected by various factors, which causes physical damage to the area, which links the memory storage. Due to this, it can affect the recall memory, which leads to forgetting events that happened to one at their childhood and things that happen recently.
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In criminal justice, the court relies on eyewitness testimonies that significantly play a role in their final judgment. Most of the eyewitnesses are required to identify faces of perpetrators or narrate how things happened. However, there are rising issues on the credibility of testimonies since their various factors that are attached to them. For instance, the statements of the eyewitness are sometimes questions because factors such as encoding and retrieval are affected during the creation and maintenance of events. People criticize the accuracy of the eyewitness on the grounds, such as impaired memory, perception, biasness, and inconsistency in their testimony. Besides, some of the eyewitnesses may have a bad reputation, which makes their testimony unreliable. The scientist has found out that stress and trauma during an event affect encoding in the memory ( Arkowitz and Lilienfeld 2010). In such circumstances, the memory becomes repressed due to conscious awareness, and this becomes hard to access such memories. Again, in traumatic events, individuals may experience dissociation, which removes the person from such a situation. In this case, experts have outlined that the justice system should not use eyewitness testimony. Another questionable factor is the challenge of identifying faces. Courts provide witnesses with an array of photos where they are asked to recognize images.
When an individual is going through a traumatic event, it becomes challenging to recognize faces. In this case, they rely on facial recognition, which is not always practical. The competency of witnesses is always questionable, and individuals are now blaming them for putting innocent people in jails. Witnesses also receive blame for not remembering primary details that are significant to the case. For example, misinformation can occur when the event occurs and the time of reporting. In such a case, confusion arises, and one is not able to analyze the turn-up of events accurately. Subsequent studies have shown that memory can be contaminated depending on people's exposure to after the unpleasing event. Some of the factors that are associated with misinformation are little time taken to view the perpetrator or poor viewing conditions. Post-traumatic stress disorder affects explicit memory, which makes it difficult for one to remember unpleasing events. Eyewitnesses' testimonies are significant in getting a picture of what happened, which will allow perpetrators to pay for their crimes. Despite the rising issue of unreliability, these testimonies are crucial in the judicial systems. Recommendations have in place, such as using other court procedures on how and when to interrogate witnesses.
The development of the memory begins at the age of 3years, where the child starts showing declarative memory. The growth continues throughout till to elderly age. An adult possesses short term memory, working memory, long term memory, and finally autobiographical memory, which happens in phases. Declarative memory is where one can show cognitive development, which is recognition of attention and language. For instance, a child who is below two years can recognize the voice of the mother. With this, it shows that a child who is below 2years their memory is already functioning. However, the development of a child's brain occurs in two different ways that are the implicit and explicit memory. Implicit memory occurs at early development, which is the early maturation of cerebellum and brain stem. Explicit development occurs later on where most of the brain gets informed. Brain development starts at 3weeks after gestation, which continues at a slower pace as it approaches adolescence. When the baby is born, their neural activities begin to change because external factors influence them. For instance, a child that is less than two months old will start to orient their head and staring at faces around them. At this point, a lot of changes occur where the neural structures gain the shape and patterns required for communication with the sensory system. At adulthood, the brain is fully developed, but this does not mark the end of its growth.
The memory and the brain are prone to damages and injuries that may impair their functionality. In recent research conducted, over 3million people have had a brain injury, which is mostly caused by trauma, stroke, and other illnesses. However, not all brain injuries are related to head injuries; some are acquired. Traumatic brain injury is a result of external factors such as a blow on the head, which causes the brain to move. The cause of acquired brain injury is the pressure on the brain, which may come from a tumor. Besides, most of these injuries occur at birth due to genetic trauma. The severances of a brain injury depend on the type of brain injury. For instance, mild brain injury can cause headaches, memory loss, nausea, and confusion. If the injury is severe, one may have a behavioral and physical disability. Brain damage may also be as a result of car accidents, physical violence, and infections. When the brain is damaged, the memory is also affected where its functionality, such as storage, is impaired. In this case, when the brain is damaged, the memory is also directly affected. In considering all these factors on development, structure, and brain damages, they can help in evaluating the credibility of an eyewitness.
References
Arkowitz, H., &Lilienfeld, S. O. (2010). Why scientist tells us not to rely on eyewitness accounts. Retrieved 2 December 2019 from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-the-eyes-have-it/
Carter, R. (2019). The human brain book: An illustrated guide to its structure, function, and disorders . Penguin.
Loftus, G. R., & Loftus, E. F. (2019). Human memory: The processing of information . Psychology Press.
