memory - anxiety (EWT)

Question 1

how does anxiety negatively affect recall?

Answer 1

creates physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues, so recall is worse

Question 2

who studied negative effects of anxiety?

Answer 2

Johnson and Scott (1976)

Question 3

Johnson and Scott (1976) - procedure

Answer 3

participants seated in a waiting room

low-anxiety condition - overhear casual conversation and a man walks out holding a pen

high-anxiety condition - overhear heated argument and breaking glass, man walks out holding knife

Question 4

Johnson and Scott (1976) - findings

Answer 4

participants asked to identify the men from a set of 50 photos
- 49% of low-anxiety accurate
- 33% of high-anxiety accurate

anxiety focuses attention on the weapon and away from other details (weapon focus)

Question 5

how does anxiety have a positive effect on recall?

Answer 5

triggers fight or flight response which increases alertness, which may improve memory and make us more aware of cues

Question 6

who studied positive effects of anxiety?

Answer 6

Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Question 7

Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - procedure

Answer 7

studies 13 witnesses of a real-life shooting in Vancouver

interviewed 4-5 months after and this was compared to the original police interviews

asked to rate how stressed they’d felt as the rime of the incident

Question 8

Yuille and Cutshall (1986) - findings

Answer 8

witnesses were very accurate, particularly those who reported being more stressed

little difference in amount given in later interviews, though some inaccuracies

Question 9

what is the Yerkes-Dodson law?

Answer 9

when someone witnesses a crime they become emotionally and physiologically aroused

memory becomes more accurate as arousal increases, until it reaches the optimal level of anxiety (maximum accuracy)

if they experience any more arousal, their recall declines

Question 10

limitation - unusualness not anxiety

Answer 10

weapon focus due to surprise not fear

Pickel (1998) - scissors, handgun, wallet, raw chicken
- eyewitness accuracy significantly poorer in high unusualness conditions

Question 11

strength - support for negative effects

Answer 11

Valentine and Mesout (2009) - London Dungeons

participants with higher heart rate (anxiety) were less able to recall details about the actor

Question 12

strength - support for positive effects

Answer 12

1993 study - interviewed 58 witnesses of a bank robbery in Sweden

those directly involved (bank workers) were assumed to experience more anxiety, and they were the most accurate (over 75%)

counterpoint - confounding variables as interviews conducted several months later, risk of post-event discussion (low internal validity)