Opinion ID: 2222943
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Identification is a Result of Recognition Memory and is Less Accurate than Recall Memory.

Text: Recall and Recognition are distinct forms of remembering. Recall is a straightforward proposition in which there are only very limited cues available to aid memory and the range of possible responses eliminates any significance in guessing. Recognition memory, on the other hand, arises only where useful memory cues do exist and the job is to make a right choice, or reasoned guess between the presented alternatives. [14a] Identification of suspects is a form of recognition memory involving an element of choice. As the number of possible choices decreases, the possibility of guessing and the consequence of unreliable results increases. A one-man or one-photo showup is, like a true and false exam, simply a form of recognition memory where there are only two choices  yes or no  and a flip of the coin would produce as many right answers as wrong ones. In a true-false exam in school, however, we can take comfort in our measure of accuracy because we have predetermined what choice is right. There is no such comfort in a showup. Thus, in a display of six pictures, there is inherent in the very process a degree of suggestion (the mere display suggests one of them is correct) and a possibility of error (five out of six guesses). [15a]