Historical connection between memory and testimony psychology by an experimental study of Seiichi Terada in Japan

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In Japan, Seiichi Terada (1884─1922) was the first psychologist who applied psychological knowledge to the field of law, working in collaboration with the law professor Eiich Makino (1878─1970). Terada's work was mainly in the tradition of clinical psychology, although in his 1915 paper titled “How useful are testimonies?” he described a set of seven experiments concerned with the empirical relationship between eyewitness testimony and memory. This is probably the first experimental study of law and psychology carried out in Japan. This article introduces Terada's history as a psychologist, and his collaboration with Makino, followed by explanation of their experiments. Finally, we discuss perspectives on testimony research in consideration of Terada's approach.