Loftus And Loftus: Some Facts About Weapon Focus

Question 1

Method

Answer 1

Lab

Question 2

Participants

Answer 2

36 students, university of Washington (loftus professor here)
13 psych students got extra credit
23 recruited through advert and laid $3.50

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

2 sets of 18 slides

Both sets showed group of people moving through a queue in a taco time restaurant

Control: person b (2nd in queue) handed cashier cheque

Experimental: person b pulled out a gun

Each slide shown for 1.5 sec

Participants shown it was a study into proactive interference

Then given 20 item questionnaire + a line up of 12 people’s heads
Used a rating scale (1-6, 6 being very sure) how confident they were of identification

Eye movements measured with corneal reflection device

Replication with 80 students

Question 4

Background

Answer 4

Weapon focus: witnesses concentration on a weapon causing reduction in ability to remember other details

This is due to attentional narrowing which loftus believed is due to evolution

Question 5

Results

Answer 5

Answers on questionnaires were not significantly different 8.5% die to chance
Control: 7 identified person b
Experimental: 2 identified person b

• no different in levels of confidence
• eye measurements
  3. 72 sec looking at gun
  2. 44 sec looking at cheque

Question 6

Conclusions

Answer 6

Spent longer looking at weapon when one was present therefore therefore experimental group had greater difficulty identifying b

Weapon focus would be a larger factor in real life as witness would be more aroused and is therefore likely to have an increased attention narrowing