memory: EWT > anxiety Flashcards
What is anxiety?
An unpleasant emotional state where we fear that something bad is about to happen
explain the negative effect of anxiety
Anxiety leads to physiological arousal in the body which prevents us paying attention to important cues so recall is worse.
What is the ‘tunnel theory’ in the context of anxiety?
It suggests our attention tunnels on a specific feature, leading to flawed attention to other aspects
What is ‘weapon focus’?
The phenomenon where attention is tunneled onto a weapon
Describe the procedure of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study.
while sitting in a waiting room participants heard an argument;
* in low anxiety, man walked through carrying a pen and with grease on his hands
* in high anxiety, ppts heard breaking glass and a man with a bloody paper knife appeared
What were the results of Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study regarding identification?
ppts picked out the man from a set of 50 photos
49% identified the man in low anxiety;
33%in high anxiety
What conclusion can be drawn from Johnson and Scott’s (1976) study?
Attention narrows to focus on a weapon due to anxiety
What positive effect does anxiety have on recall according to the text?
fight or flight is triggered and it increases alertness and improves memory for the event
What is the fight-or-flight response?
A physiological response to stress that increases alertness
Describe the procedure of Yuille and Cutshall’s (1986) study.
Involved a real-life shooting > shop owner shot and killed a thief
13 witnesses were interviewed 4-5 months later, compared to original police interviews
ppts had to asked to rate how stressed they felt at the time of the incident using a 7-point scale and asked if they had any emotional problems since the event
What were the results of Yuille and Cutshall’s (1986) study regarding witness accuracy?
Witnesses were accurate quite with little change over 5 months; those with higher stress were more accurate
What conclusion can be drawn from Yuille and Cutshall’s (1986) study?
Anxiety can have a positive effect on recall, making individuals more alert
What does the Yerkes-Dodson Law suggest about stress and performance?
Moderate stress improves performance, but too much stress negatively affects performance > there must be an optimum stress level
Fill in the blank: in the weapon focus study recall was ____ in low anxiety and ____ in high anxiety condition.
49% and 33%
AO3: weapon focus is irrelevant
there is recent research to suggest weapon focus effect may not be relevant at all. In studies such as Johnson and Scott, weapon focus may have tested surprise rather than anxiety. This is supported by Pickle who conducted a study using** scissors, a handgun, a wallet or raw chicken**. In this study eyewitness accuracy was significantly poorer in the high unusualness condition (chicken and handgun).
WEAKNESS as this suggests that weapon focus is due to unusualness rather than anxiety and therefore the research tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT
AO3: reserach to support > positive effects
There is research to support anxiety having a positive effect on the accuracy of memory
Christianson and Hubinette interviewed 58 witnesses to actual bank robberies in Sweden. Some of the witnesses were directly involved such as the bank workers and some that were indirectly involved such as the bystanders. It was round that recall was 75% accurate across all witnesses. The direct witnesses were more accurate > due to higher anxiety
STRENGTH as these findings from actual crimes confirm that anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall for EWT and may even enhance it.
AO3: research lacks control
Research into real life eyewitnesses involve field studies, which lack control
Yuille and Cutshall conducted a study and participants were interviewed 4-5 months after the incident. When the interview is conducted after the event, a variety of events can happen to the participant in the meantime that researchers have no control over
Such as: discussions with other people about the event, accounts they may have read or heard about.
WEAKNESS as it is possible these events can act as extraneous variables that affect the accuracy of an EWT. Additionally participants may forget important details.
AO3: research to support > negative effects
there is evidence supporting the negative effects of anxiety on memory
Valentine and Mesout used a heart rate, which is an objective measure, to divide participants into low anxiety and high anxiety groups. In this study, anxiety clearly disrupted the participants ability to recall details about the actor in the London Dungeon’s Labyrinth
STRENGTH as this suggests that high anxiety does have a negative effects on the immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event
