Memory: specification

• Factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: misleading information, including leading questions and post-event discussion; anxiety

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Psychological research has found that fear or anxiety can affect how we encode and store memories of events like a violent crime.

• Encode = the process of seeing and forming a memory.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Memory does not work like a video recorder.

• We do not encode and store everything we see and hear.

• We only see part of the event and store some of that information.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• If the event is sudden and shocking we may only see some of the details and store that.

• Lots of important details like what the person looked like, their gender, ethnicity, or age may not be seen, encoded, and stored.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• When questioned about the crime we retrieve the stored memory .

• Gaps in our memory are filled with information that we have previously stored about similar events.

• Schemas : for events like crimes may fill in gaps for the crime witnessed.

Allport & Postman (1947)

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• When questioned about the crime we retrieve the stored memory .

• Gaps in our memory are filled with information that we have previously stored about similar events.

• Schemas : for events like crimes may fill in gaps for the crime witnessed.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Research has found that anxiety can have a negative effect on eyewitness memory.

• Fight or flight response is activated.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

Task 1

• Read p.31 of the memory booklet: ‘The negative effects of anxiety on recall’. Summarise Johnson and Scott (1976).

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Research has also found anxiety can have a positive effect on memory: it can improve memory of important details about a crime.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

Task 2

• Read p.32 of the memory booklet: ‘The positive effects of anxiety on recall’. Summarise the Yuille and Cutshall (1986) study.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

Task 3• Read p.33 of the memory booklet:

‘Explanations for contradictory findings. How does the Yerkes-Dodson effect explain conflicting research findings?

Anxiety: evaluation

• Findings of research on the weapons focus effect may not tell us anything valid about the effect of anxiety on the accuracy of eyewitness memory.

• Johnson & Scott (1976)

• Findings may be due to surprise not anxiety.

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Lack of control

• Field studies are not controlled like lab experiments.

• Yuille & Cuttshall (1986)

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

Task 3• Read p.33 of the memory booklet:

‘Explanations for contradictory findings. How does the Yerkes-Dodson effect explain conflicting research findings?

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Ethical issues

• Lab experiments that make participants anxious raise ethical issues

Eyewitness testimony: anxiety

• Read p.35 – 36 of the memory booklet and make notes on:

• Relevancy

• Lack of control

• Ethical issues