1. 1 Memory – Eyewitness Testimony (EWT) The effect of Anxiety on EWT

2. 2 The Effect of Anxiety on EWT Feelings of anxiety whilst witnessing an event are known to affect later recall Shown by the Yerkes-Dodson law: So a bit of anxiety at the time can actually improve recall later But too much anxiety impairs later recall

3. 3 Evidence for Yerkes-Dodson Law: Ginet & Verkampt (2007) Varied anxiety using pretend electrodes. Group 1: Told electrodes would deliver a small shock – but none given (minor stress condition) Group 2: Told electrodes just for recording brain wave info etc (no stress condition) With electrodes attached all Ps watched a road accident. A week later they were tested on recall. Group 1 Recalled more minor details, which supports the Yerkes-Dodson U-shaped relationship: minor stress improved recall The Effect of Anxiety on EWT

4. 4 Loftus (1979) The Bloody Knife One group of people overhear aggressive argument between 2 men, after which one emerges holding a bloody letter opener Other group overhears a pleasant exchange between 2 men, then one emerges holding a pen Each group asked to identify the emerging man from a set of photos. 33% of those in weapon condition were able to do this, vs 49% in the other condition: suggests 1 st group had weapon focus

5. 5 The Effect of Anxiety on EWT Loftus (1987) Give me the Money One group of people watch a sequence involving someone point gun at cashier and getting cash Other group watches sequence in which someone gives a cheque to the cashier and is given cash Eyewitnesses looked more at the gun than at the cheque (weapon focus) As a result, memory for details unrelated to the gun / cheque was poorer in the gun condition

6. 6 The Effect of Anxiety on EWT These studies seem to show that the theory of Weapon Focus does affect what people recall in such situations Those involved pay attention to the aspect of the incident which seems to pose them the most threat, so miss other details AO2: But both these experiments are lab studies, done in a controlled environment and using artificial situations which may not resemble real life ie. these experiments lack ecological validity as they do not acurately approximate the real-life situation under investigation

7. 7 AO2: How are real incidents different to the ones in Loftus’s lab? That is, how does her work lack Ecological Validity? real crimes often very frightening, and you cannot accurately (or ethically) recreate that fear in the lab where it is safe and warm the witnesses attention may be directed away from the action of a real crime, eg by related events. In the lab all focus is on the crime itself Real event may involve other sensory experiences such as smells, which cannot be used in lab exps The Effect of Anxiety on EWT

8. 8 AO2: The representativeness of participants in EWT studies has been an issue. In Loftus’ studies the participants are often: restricted in age range of above-average education and/or IQ of higher social classes/income groups restricted in terms of culture (e.g. all Americans) psychology students! Thus it is not clear that we can generalise the findings of her work to other groups in society. The Effect of Anxiety on EWT

9. 9 But some studies have been done on EWT and Weapon Focus outside the lab Eg. Pickel (1999) argued that the presence of a weapon may not affect EWT due to it being perceived as a threat, but because it is unusual or unexpected in that context

10. 10 The Effect of Anxiety on EWT Pickel did an experiment where she got a confederate to wave a gun around in a threatening fashion – at a shooting club When she asked witnesses for details of the incident (their EWT) she found no evidence of Weapon Focus Pickel said this was because a gun at a shooting range was fully expected & normal, therefore did not impair recall

11. 11 Witnesses of a real life incident (a shooting by a gun shop in Canada) had remarkably accurate memories of a stressful event involving weapons A thief stole guns and money, but was shot six times and died. The police interviewed witnesses, and thirteen of them were re-interviewed five months later Recall was found to be accurate, even after a long time, and two misleading questions inserted by the research team had no effect AO2: no evidence of anxiety having affected their recall. The Effect of Anxiety on EWT

12. 12 In support, Christianson and Hubinette (1993) found victims of genuine bank robberies were more accurate in their recall than bystanders, even though they presumably experienced more stress. These results seem to fly in the face of the ‘Weapon Focus’ described by Loftus AO2: being a victim instead of a bystander probably meant you were closer to the action, thus it would make sense for your recall to be more accurate. Proximity and Anxiety confounding variables here. The Effect of Anxiety on EWT

13. 13 Yale psychiatrist Charles Morgan tested the ability of trained, military students to identify their interrogators following low- and high-stress scenarios In each condition, subjects were face-to-face with an interrogator for 40 minutes in a well-lit room The following day, each participant was asked to select his or her interrogator out of a photo lineup Those subjected to the high-stress scenario falsely identified someone other than the interrogator in 68% of cases, compared to only 12% from the low- stress scenario The Effect of Anxiety on EWT

14. 14 AO2 lack of ecological validity in laboratory studies, ie. You can’t easily recreate stressful situations – and it may not be ethical to do so anyway. Problems of control might also be relevant in real-life studies, eg in Yuille & Cutshall’s study those who experienced the highest levels of stress were closer to the event which might have helped their recall The Effect of Anxiety on EWT