How Do Eyewitnesses Report When They Observed The Same Event Differently?

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A new presentation technique (Manipulation of Overlapping Rivalrous Images by polarizing filters, MORI) was invented for presenting two different movies on the same screen to be seen separately by two groups of viewers without them noticing the overlap. It can easily create desired artificial conflicts among viewers. Two polarizing filters perpendicular to each other provide separate invisible channels from dual video projectors to two groups of viewers via a single screen. The basic principle of the presentation technique, details of the apparatus, and limitations were reported in Mori (2003).The results from eyewitness experiments utilizing the MORI technique conducted by the head, investigator and collaborators have revealed that eyewitnesses tend to conform to their co-viewers, regardless of age, gender, or personality. Those research findings were presented at international meetings, such as the 25th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Tsukuba International Conferences on Memory, and Annual Conventions of American Psychological Society. The research outcomes have been submitted to academic journals (Hirokawa, Matsuno, Ukita,& Mori, 2003,Mori & Mori,2003).In Mori & Mori (2003),two experiments were carried out with a total of 138 undergraduates in groups of varying sizes to examine the effects of the presence of a co-witness on the witnesses' memory distortion. Experiment 1 investigated the co-witness effects in a one-versus-two situation, while Experiment 2 investigated the effects in a two-versus-two situation. Results from Mori & Mori (2003) and the preceding study (Kanematsu, Mori,& Mori,2003) showed that isolated eyewitnesses changed their minds more frequently and unilaterally in accordance with the majority, whereas when they had a co-witness who shared the same information, they tended to maintain their original reports even after being confronted with conflicting information in a discussion.