False memories: It's that easy to hack your memory

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Psychologist Shaw: "Children are more easily influenced"

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Andrea Artz / DER SPIEGEL

Shaw, 33, is a memory researcher based in London.

She supports investigators and lawyers in verifying the veracity of witness statements.

The scientist has now even become the inspiration for the main character (played by Alexandra Maria Lara) in the crime series "8 Zeugen", which was recently filmed in Potsdam-Babelsberg and is to be broadcast in 2021.

SPIEGEL:

Ms. Shaw, how do you feel as a heroine in a TV series?

Shaw:

I can't believe it myself.

The producer read an interview with me about two years ago and that inspired him.

The series is about a memory researcher who questions witnesses.

A child has been abducted, there is no evidence, only memories and testimony.

The psychologist is supposed to help the police find out what is true and what is not.

SPIEGEL:

A classic crime plot.

Shaw:

Yes, but the methods this scientist uses are based on real research.

The heroine uses so-called cognitive interviews, i.e. with deliberately open and neutral questions that are intended to prevent someone from being talked into things.

The script even quotes verbatim from official interrogation manuals that I have worked on.

Hopefully this will teach viewers something about the psychological science behind it.

In Germany, the way in which witness interviews are practiced is unfortunately not always up to date with the latest research.

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