November 25, 2010: The above was published in the Guardian.
This an excellent article by one of the UK’s leading researchers in the field. It mentions en passant the 1975 case of a woman who was raped in Australia, but here, let the man himself tell you:
“Another dramatic case further illustrates the way in which witnesses can sometimes confuse the source of their memories, with potentially catastrophic results. Donald Thomson, an Australian psychologist, was bewildered when the police informed him that he was a suspect in a rape case, his description matching almost exactly that provided by the victim. Fortunately for Thomson, he had a watertight alibi. At the time of the rape, he was taking part in a live TV interview – ironically, on the fallibility of eyewitness testimony. It turned out that the victim had been watching Thomson on TV just before the rape occurred and had confused her memory of him with that of the rapist.”
Here is a related article: Scientists Produce False Memories In Mice; finally another one that gives a tiny bit more background on the Donald Thomson case: Eyewitness Memory is Unreliable by Marc Green.
Finally, finally! I spoke with Chris French at the Goldsmiths conference on Satanic abuse – see the relevant entry for June 6, 2015.
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