Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

I am worried that we don't have many (if any) human behavioral scientists on the forum. Now, that may have changed since last year, and I hope it has! But if not, you may want to contact the police in your town or someone else locally who can help.

That said--I do study animal behavior and know a little about human behavior. So I will answer your questions just in case, but know that these are really not 'expert' opinions.

1. Melissa Bowlin, Ph.D., Post-doctoral Fellow
2. Absolutely. People are convicted every day in the US based almost solely on the testimony of eyewitnesses. Plus, when a crime has been committed and police need to locate a suspect, they have to rely on what people around the crime scene saw.
3. I first started learning about it in high school, but a lot of what I know I learned later in college. I also saw the documentary 'One Sunday Morning' (or something like that), which is about eyewitness testimony and how a man almost got sent to prison for something he didn't do based on eyewitness testimony.
4. I've learned how unreliable the average person can be when recounting details about a scene, abut the power of suggestion, and about false memories. It's easy to trick yourself into remembering something you didn't actually see!
5. See my answer to #2.
6. There are certainly cognitive differences between males and females that could affect memory; there are also social aspects to observation (for example, I might expect on average women to notice more often than men whether or not someone was wearing a wedding ring). However, I have no personal experience with this since this is not what I study.
7. Sorry, I'm a scientist, not a police officer .
8. These days, I usually have to juggle data analysis, writing papers, creating presentations, conference organization, coming up with ideas for new experiments, and of course, moderating the Science Buddies' forum .

Thank you very much for your help. Thanks to your warning, I have actually found a retired policewoman to interview. Your information was also very helpful, and I can probably use it.