Paper 1 - Memory - Topic 2 - Factors Affecting The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Testimony: Anxiety Flashcards
2.8 What are the emotional and physical effects of anxiety?
Anxiety has strong emotional and physical effects, but is unclear whether these effects improve or worsen eyewitness recall
2.8 What is the negative effects of anxiety on recall?
Anxiety creates physiological arousal that prevents attention to important cues, leading to worse recall
2.8 What is ‘Weapon Focus’ in the context of anxiety and eyewitness testimony?
Refers to the phenomenon where the presence of a weapon during an event causes witnesses to focus on the weapon, reducing their recall of other details
2.8 What was the procedure used by Craig Johnson and William Scott in their study on anxiety?
Participants believed they were in a lab study, with some in a low-anxiety condition hearing a casual conversation and seeing a man with a pen, while others in a high-anxiety condition heard a heated argument and saw a man with a knife
2.8 What were the findings of Johnson and Scott’s study regarding identification accuracy?
49% of participants who saw the man with the pen identified him, while only 33% who saw the man with the knife were able to identify him
2.8 What does the tunnel theory of memory suggest?
The tunnel theory suggests that people have enhanced memory for central events, implying that weapon focus can lead to reduced recall of peripheral details
2.8 What was the main finding of John Yuille and Judith Cutshall’s study on eyewitness memory?
Witnesses were very accurate in their accounts, with those reporting higher stress levels being more accurate in their recall
2.8 What is the Yerkes-Dodson Law?
The Yerkes-Dodson Law states that there is an optimal level of arousal for performance, where too little or too much anxiety can impair recall
2.8 What limitation did Kerri Pickel identify in the study by Johnson and Scott? (AO3)
Pickel suggested that participants may have focused on the weapon due to its unusualness rather than anxiety
Suggests that the weapon focus effect is due to its unusualness rather than anxiety/threat and therefore tells us nothing specifically about the effects of anxiety on EWT
2.8 What did Tim Valentine and Jan Mesout’s study find regarding anxiety and recall? (AO3)
Their study found that high anxiety disrupted participants’ ability to recall details about an actor in a stressful environment, supporting the negative effects of anxiety on recall
Suggests that a high level of anxiety does have a negative effect on the immediate eyewitness recall of a stressful event
2.8 What was the outcome of the study by Sven-Ake Christianson and Birgitta Hubinette on bank robbery witnesses? (AO3)
The study found that recall was over 75% accurate across all witnesses, with direct victims showing an even higher accuracy
These findings from actual crimes confirm that anxiety does not reduce the accuracy of recall for eyewitnesses and may even enhance it
2.8 What counterpoint is raised regarding Christianson and Hubinette’s study? (AO3)
There was no control over confounding variables since participants were interviewed months after the event, which may have influenced recall accuracy
Therefore, it may be due to the CV’s, invalidating their findings
2.8 What is a problem with the inverted-U theory of anxiety and recall? (AO3)
Ignores multiple elements of anxiety, focusing only on physical arousal and not considering cognitive and emotional aspects
