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 demonstrates the phenomenon of ____________.
A)proactive interference
B)retrograde amnesia
C)source confusion
D)state-dependent memory

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Source confusion occurs when a memory is correctly recalled but its source is incorrectly attributed, as in this case where the eyewitness mistakenly attributes the familiarity of a face from mug shots to having seen the person commit the crime.

An Eyewitness from a Crime Is Asked to Look Through