The human memory is a distinct process involving the acquisition and storage of information in the brain. The information stored in the brain can be accessed using various methods in the criminal justice system during criminal investigation and prosecution. In most cases, all the information stored in the brain may not be accessed when required due to various biological limitations (McLeod 2013). The human memory comprises of three phases including; the information acquisition, the information retention, and the information retrieval. However, the various factors in these phases may affect the information access by an eyewitness during the police investigation.
First, the information acquisition involves the initial encrypting of the information by the brain for storage. The second phase in memory is the retention of the information which involves the stimulation and storage of mental accounts into the brain through neural activities. The last phase is the retrieval process and this comprises of the re-activation and access of the mental records in the brain ( Brandl 2014 ). In this case, the memory must undergo the three phases to ensure that its accuracy and reliability is improved. Various factors in the human memory affect information access during eyewitness interrogation (McLeod 2013).
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In the acquisition phase, various factors that may affect the process may comprise of the effects of expectations, lighting, arousal, attention, and distance. For instance, low expectations, low attention, and longer distance may reduce the accuracy of information accessed by the witness. In the retention phase, information accessed declines swiftly then gradually as time goes by. In addition, new information may be assimilated and assorted with the old information resulting into a misperception. In the retrieval phase, some information may be omitted while others added into the witness accounts due to errors (Brandl 2014) . All these reduces the reliability of the information provided by the witness.
Therefore, human memory is a very important aspect in the criminal justice system, and in most cases in the interrogation as well as investigation process. The three phases of human memory, comprising of the acquisition phase, retention phase, and the retrieval phase comprise of various factors which may affect the information retrieval by the witness. This may reduce the accuracy and therefore the reliability of the witness accounts to the investigation process.
References
Brandl, S. G. (2014). Criminal Investigation, 3rd Edition . [Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781483324357/
Mcleod, S. (2013). Memory, Encoding Storage and Retrieval | Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/memory.html Accessed 12 May 2017
