Memory-amxiety

Question 1

Key study: Johnson and Scott (1976)

What is the weapon focus effect?

Procedure-
Ppts say in waiting room
Argument heard
Man then saw run through the room
(What were they two items either saw held? 🖊🔪)
Ppts later asked to asked to identify man from a set of photographs

Answer 1

View that a weapon in a criminals hand distracts the attention from other features reducing accuracy

🖊Pen covered in grease (low anxiety condition)

Or

🔪Knife covered in blood (weapon-focus condition)

Question 2

Findings:
Mean accuracy of pen and knife condition?

What did Loftus (1987) discover? 👀

Answer 2

🖊=49%
🔪=33%

Weapon caused attention to be physically drawn towards the weapon itself shown by eye-Movements

Question 3

Anxiety’s positive effect on accuracy-

Alternative argument

High anxiety= more enduring and accurate memories

Christiansen and hubinette (1993) found evidence of enhanced recall when questioning 58 real whiteness to a bank robbery in Sweden

How long after robbery were interviews conducted?

Accuracy of recall?

Who had best recall?

Answer 3

4-15 months after

Over 75%

Most anxious witnesses

Question 4

Evaluation-

Pickel 1998- proposed reduced accuracy due to weapon focus effect is due to surprise rather than anxiety

Ppts enter ✂️💈 salon either holding…

Where was identification least accurate?

Shows weapon effect to be linked to surprise 💥

Answer 4

Scissors ✂️ (high threat/low surprise)
Whole Chicken 🍗 (low threat/high surprise)
Hand gun 🔫 (high threat/high surprise)
Wallet 💷 (low threat/low surprise)

High surprise conditions

Question 5

Evaluation-
Real life versus lab study’s

Strength of Christenson and Hubinette study?

What did Deffenbatcher (2004) find that opposed C & H findings looking at studies?

Answer 5

Study of anxiety in the context of a real crime

Lab studies in general demonstrated that anxiety led to reduced Accuracy while real-life studies are associate with even greater loss of accuracy