An eyewitness from a crime is asked to look through some mug shots to see if he can identify the person who committed the crime.After doing this,he sees a police lineup of suspects and identifies one of the men as the person who committed the crime because he looks very familiar.Unfortunately,the man in the lineup looks familiar not because the eyewitness saw him commit the crime but because he saw his face in the mug shot books a few hours ago.This example best demonstrates the phenomenon of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The phenomenon being demonstrated in this scenario is source confusion, where the eyewitness is unable to accurately attribute the familiarity of the suspect's face, mistaking it for having seen him in the mug shot book rather than at the crime scene. This is a common example of how eyewitness testimony can be unreliable due to memory distortions. Proactive interference, retrograde amnesia, and state-dependent memory are not relevant in this situation.

An Eyewitness from a Crime Is Asked to Look Through