factors affecting EWT - anxiety

Question 1

what is anxiety?

Answer 1

feelings of arousal that create extreme concern and tension

Question 2

how does the weapon focus effect decrease accuracy of recall?

Answer 2

• witnesses are more focused on the weapon, distracted from useful info such as face / clothing
• weapon creates extreme anxiety - causing panic for witnesses (can’t remember information)

Question 3

how did Christianson and Hubinette demonstrate that anxiety can produce a more accurate recall?

Answer 3

they stated that arousal can improve general alertness of the situations and the emotional aspect could improve memory encoding

Question 4

what is the Yerks-Dodson law?

Answer 4

anxiety increases accuracy up to a certain point, until it becomes too high and stress results in lower accuracy

Question 5

two limitations of weapon focus effect?

Answer 5

• not a real life study (participants may have guessed the aim)
• low accuracy may be caused by surprise rather than anxiety