ExposureBlog

Since many cases are won or lost on the testimony of eyewitnesses, a recent study cited here should raise some eyebrows.  It concerns the psychological phenomenon known as inattentional blindness, or the inability of some normal individuals  to recognize something when their attention is directed elsewhere.  The phenomenon is well-known in psychology. Visual expert Marc Green has a good article on inattentional blindness and human error,  and there is a book on the subject by Australian researchers Arien Mack and Irvin Rock.

I have read depositions in which the deponent is asked over and over whether he or she saw something take place.  If the response is in the negative the assumption is that the event did not, in fact, occur—or that those who say that it did are not telling the truth.  Well, not so fast.

In the study, conducted by Dr. Seema L. Clifasefi of the University of Washington at Seattle, 47 participants were asked to watch a basketball game and count the number of times a basketball was passed back and forth between teams.  Some were given an alcoholic beverage and others were given an alcohol-free beverage.  During the game, a woman in a gorilla suit appeared on the screen, stood amidst the players, beat her chest and walked away.  When questioned later whether they had seen the gorilla, fully a third of the participants had NOT noticed the gorilla.  Of those not consuming alcohol, only 46% recalled seeing the gorilla.  Of those consuming alcohol, only 18% recalled the gorilla.

It would seem, then that if an eyewitness was engaged in behavior that required his full attention, the odds of noticing details of a specific incident may be less than 50 percent. 

Juan Cole (talking about blogs) offers a concise discussion of distributed vs centralized systems and introduces the term choke point hegemonies–a term that will probably find its way to Wikipedia before the week is out.  As it turns out, his discussion is also useful when analyzing organizational structures, especially when trying to learn why information flow within the organization is blocked at certain points.  Recommended.

Suppose you’re a plaintiff lawyer with an injured client.  You suspect the defendant, a large construction company, has some very bad work practices that put employees of subcontractors at risk.  You only have so much time and funds available.  After the eyewitnesses—and of course, the safety guy—who should you depose? 

Some of of my clients on the Plaintiff’s side like to go top down–deposing the CEO or the President of the company first, then work their way down to the managers.  Others prefer to work their way up–foreman to supervisory personnel.

At some point–usually with the mid-level managers they will encounter something like dense fog obscuring all further discovery: the malady known as CCA: Command Chain Amnesia.

While you or I might remember inconsequential meetings with people that took place years ago—and may even remember what was said, there are highly-paid people working as managers who won’t remember talking with anyone.  They will be unable to recall meetings, conferences and even what they took in college.  One president for a VERY large Texas construction company claimed on the record that he didn’t really know anything about electricity (the case involved an electrocution.)  When it was pointed out that he also had an engineering degree, he said he couldn’t recall taking any courses that had to do with “electricity.” 

Amnesia isn’t limited to the corporate world.  A CIA analyst by the name of Tyler Drumheller is writing a book that will no doubt shine a bright light on command chain amnesia in the run-up to the Iraq conflict.  It seems he told both his boss, a man named John E. McLaughlin as well as the Director of the CIA himself that the intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction was seriously flawed–well before the information was used in speeches by both the President and by the Secretary of State.  When asked to comment, neither McLaughlin nor Tenet could remember ever talking with Drumheller. 

So, I suppose it’s a waste of time to be angry with the mid-level managers when they fail to remember important details.  It seems to affect the big guys as well.  There are, of course, few things that can be done to make someone remember something, especially when doing so makes them look foolish. For the person asking the questions, this can pose a real problem.

I did hear once about a case in which a feisty trial lawyer (is there any other kind?)–after hearing a deponent repeat “I don’t remember” for about four hours—finally demanded to see the man’s medical and personnel records.  Seems he wanted to find out if they guy was taking drugs that would cause amnesia—or in the alternative, why a company would even hire someone who couldn’t remember anything. 

Thankfully, command chain amnesia doesn’t usually cause problems for the those who have it.  Some, like George Tenet,  go on to win the Presidential Medal of Freedom.