The Affect of Anxiety On Recall

Question 1

Describe one negative effect anxiety can have on recall

Answer 1

Weapon focus: when the eyewitness focuses entirely on the weapon present, potentially missing other important details (e.g. what the perpetrator looked like)

Question 2

Describe Johnson & Scott’s Experiment into the negative affect anxiety can have on recall

Answer 2

• Participants were in a waiting room
• In Condition 1, participants overheard a heated argument followed by a man walking out of the room with a pen.
• In Condition 2, participants overheard a heated argument followed by a man walking out of the room with a bloody knife.
• When interviewed, far more could identify the man with the pen from a series of 50 suspect photos than the man with the knife.

Question 3

Describe one positive affect anxiety can have on recall

Answer 3

Triggering the fight or flight response, which causes increased alertness, and thus may enhance memory

Question 4

Describe Loftus & Burn’s Experiment into the negative affect anxiety can have on recall

Answer 4

• In Condition 1, participants watched a violent version of a film, where a boy was shot in the face
• In Condition 2, participants watched a non-violent version of a film, where the boy was called bakc inside
• In the violent condition, far less could accurately recall specific details, such as what the boy was wearing

Question 5

Describe Yuille & Cutshall’s Experiment into the positive affect anxiety can have on recall

Answer 5

• Interviewed 13 witnesses of a fatal shooting in a gun shop in Vancouver 4-5 months after
• Found that those that reported being most anxious during the event had the most accurate recall

Question 6

Describe Christianson & Hübinette’s Experiment into postive affect anxiety can have on recall

Answer 6

• Interviewed 58 witnesses of a bank robbery in Sweden
• Found that those that were directly involved (e.g. cashiers) - and therefore presumed to be most anxious- had more accurate recall than those whom were indirectly involved (eg. bystanders)

Question 7

What is an explanation for the contradictory findings regarding the affect of anxiety on recall?

Answer 7

The Yerkes-Dodson Law or Inverted U Theory, which suggests that anxiety increases accuracy of recall to an extent, but that accuracy begins to decrease dramatically once anxiety levels are too high

Question 8

In Johnson & Scott’s Weapon Focus Study, what percentage of participants could identify the man with the pen compared to the man with the knife?

Answer 8

49% compared to 33%

Question 9

In Loftus & Burn’s Study into the negative affect of anxiety of recall, what percentage of participants in the violent condition could recall specific details of the film compared to participants in the non-violent condition?

Answer 9

Less than 5% compared to 28%