ABSTRACT
The accuracy of reports of what has been seen or heard is a matter of wide interest. In courts of justice it decides the liberty or life of the defendant, and in the social world the narration of conversations or events often disrupts a community and destroys the happiness of all concerned. Testimony is a solemn affirmation, usually given under oath in courts of justice. Its social counterparts are repetition of conversations, spreading of rumors, and reports of scenes which have been heard or read. Picture-tests have demonstrated a number of things in the psychology of testimony that probably could not have been singled out and discovered in drama-experiments. Picture-tests lend themselves to scientific accuracy. The most positive witnesses and narrators of conversation are to be regarded with suspicion because of their very assurance of accuracy. The undetected vagueness of memory-details of the witnesses furnished a fertile soil for the growth of imaginary pictures.
