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2 months ago in Forensic Psychology By Manoj

Does trauma make eyewitnesses more reliable—or less?

We tend to think traumatic events are seared into memory with perfect clarity. But is that actually true? Does trauma help or hurt the accuracy of eyewitness evidence?

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By Meera Answered 1 month ago

It hurts in specific ways. The work of Elizabeth Loftus and others shows that stress and post-event suggestion can profoundly distort recall. Neuroimaging adds the mechanism: trauma over-activates the amygdala (emotion center) while impairing hippocampal function, disrupting normal memory consolidation. The result is often fragmented, disorganized, or inaccurate recollections—not the perfect recording we imagine. Trauma doesn't create a video. It creates a broken mosaic. And the mind fills the gaps, often incorrectly.

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