Effects of Stress Induced by a Simulated Shooting on Recall by Police and Citizen Witnesses

Stanny, Claudia J.; Johnson, Thomas C.

doi:10.2307/1423364

Cited by 56 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…There were few differences in recall between officers who took part in a 'shoot' scenario in which they fired their weapon compared to officers in a 'no shoot' scenario who did not open fire. Stanny and Johnson (2000) combined a similar virtual reality simulation with a within-participant manipulation of 'shoot' and 'no shoot' scenarios. They found that police and civilian witnesses, who showed increased physiological activation during the violent 'shoot' scenarios, recalled fewer correct details in comparison to their recall of a less violent 'no shoot' scenarios.…”

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confidence: 99%

Eyewitness identification under stress in the London Dungeon

Valentine

Mesout

2008

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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Eyewitness experiments do not induce the stress experienced by victims of crime. It is important to understand the effect of stress if results of laboratory studies are to be generalised to victims and witnesses of real crimes, but previous research has shown a mixed picture. The ability of visitors to the London Dungeon to describe and identify somebody encountered in the Horror Labyrinth was investigated, as a function of their state anxiety. To validate the measure of state anxiety, participants wore a wireless heart rate monitor whilst in the labyrinth. High state anxiety was associated with a higher heart rate. Subsequently, visitors completed measures of their state anxiety experienced whilst in the labyrinth and a measure of trait anxiety. High state anxiety was associated with reporting fewer correct descriptors of the target person, more incorrect details and making fewer correct identifications from a lineup. There was no effect of trait anxiety on eyewitness memory.

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confidence: 99%

Eyewitness identification under stress in the London Dungeon

Valentine

Mesout

2008

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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“…The results from past work, however, have provided inconsistent support for this thesis. Specifically, some studies show that arousal decreases the accuracy of eyewitness identifications (Deffenbacher et al, 2004;Stanny & Johnson, 2000), whereas others suggest that arousal may enhance memory performance (Bornstein, Liebel, & Scarberry, 1998).…”

Section: Estimator Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crime Type, Perceived Stereotypicality, and Memory Biases: A Contextual Model of Eyewitness Identification

Osborne

Davies

2014

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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The fallibility of eyewitness identifications is well documented. Nevertheless, research has yet to assess the possibility that the type of crime committed systematically influences who eyewitnesses mistakenly identify. We address this oversight by presenting a contextual model of eyewitness identification (CMEI). The CMEI asserts that discrete crimes automatically activate distinct stereotypes about a perpetrator's appearance. Depending on the congruence between these stereotypes and the perpetrator's actual appearance, eyewitnesses will remember the perpetrator as appearing more (or less) representative of his or her group (i.e., higher or lower on perceived stereotypicality). Estimator and system variables are posited to affect identifications at different stages of the identification process. The literatures on stereotype activation, perceived stereotypicality, and stereotype-consistent memory biases are reviewed to support the CMEI. Our conceptual integration provides a model of eyewitness identification that explains when mistaken identifications are likely to occur and who they are likely to affect. ). Although this literature has done an excellent job of documenting when errors in eyewitness identification are likely to occur, little is known about whether the type of crime committed (i.e., the crime type) systematically affects who eyewitnesses mistakenly identify. In the current paper, we argue that focusing on the crime type can help explain why eyewitnesses choose one innocent suspect over another from a police line-up. To advance this thesis, we provide an integration of the literatures on (i) the automaticity of stereotype activation, (ii) perceived stereotypicality, and (iii) stereotypeconsistent memory biases. In doing so, we develop a contextual model of eyewitness identification (CMEI). After showing how these respective literatures support the CMEI, we review recent studies that directly test our model. We conclude by discussing the generalizability of the CMEI and examining the implications our synthesis has for the identification process.

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“…For example, police officers recall fewer details from scenarios in which a shooting occurred than those without a shooting (Stanny & Johnson, 2000), and memory for contextual details is worse for emotionally arousing than nonemotional events (Kensinger, Piguet, Krendl, & Corkin, 2005;Schmidt, 2002). Memories for shocking events may import elements from other events, such as television footage seen later (Pezdek, 2003;Neisser & Harsch, 1992), and memory for peripheral details of such events is worst among people who find the event most emotionally powerful (Schmidt, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Arousal Can Impair Feature Binding in Working Memory

Mather

Mitchell

Raye

et al. 2006

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

181

168

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To investigate whether emotional arousal affects memorial feature binding, we had participants complete a short-term source-monitoring task-remembering the locations of four different pictures over a brief delay. On each trial, the four pictures were all either high arousal, medium arousal, or low arousal. Memory for picture-location conjunctions decreased as arousal increased. In addition, source memory for the location of negative pictures was worse among participants with higher depression scores. Two subsequent functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments showed that relative to low-arousal trials, high- and medium-arousal trials resulted in greater activity in areas associated with visual processing (fusiform gyrus, middle temporal gyrus/middle occipital gyrus, lingual gyrus) and less activity in superior precentral gyrus and the precentral-superior temporal intersect. These findings suggest that arousal (and perhaps negative valence for depressed people) recruits attention to items thereby disrupting working memory processes that help bind features together.

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Effects of Stress Induced by a Simulated Shooting on Recall by Police and Citizen Witnesses

Cited by 56 publications

References 21 publications

Eyewitness identification under stress in the London Dungeon

Eyewitness identification under stress in the London Dungeon

Crime Type, Perceived Stereotypicality, and Memory Biases: A Contextual Model of Eyewitness Identification

Emotional Arousal Can Impair Feature Binding in Working Memory

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