The emotional eyewitness: The effects of emotion on specific aspects of eyewitness recall and recognition performance.

Abstract

The present set of experiments aimed to investigate the effects of negative emotion on specific aspects of eyewitness recall and recognition performance. The experience of emotion was manipulated between subjects, with participants either viewing a crime scenario (a mugging) or a neutral scenario (a conversation). Eyewitness recall was categorized into descriptions of the perpetrator, critical incident, victim, and environmental details. The completeness and accuracy of eyewitness recall across categories of detail were measured in Experiment 1. A significant main effect of negative emotion was found for the completeness of recall. Furthermore, a significant main effect of the completeness of eyewitness statements was found, but not for their accuracy. However, these main effects were qualified by a significant interaction between emotion and category of detail recalled. Specifically, emotional participants provided a more complete description of the perpetrator than neutral participants; however, they were less able than their neutral counterparts to describe what the perpetrator did to the victim. In light of these findings, Experiment 2 investigated whether enhanced completeness of perpetrator descriptions during recall translated into an enhanced ability to recognize the perpetrator from a photographic lineup by emotional compared with neutral participants. Results from Experiment 2 suggest that while emotional participants again provide a more complete description of the perpetrator, they are less able than their neutral counterparts to recognize the perpetrator from a photographic lineup. Results are discussed in terms of a retrieval motivation hypothesis of negative emotional experience and the possible consequences for eyewitness testimony.

Emotional reactions to crime across cultures

“…Even what is known as cold or predatory aggression may not be entirely without emotion, as previously thought (Bushman & Anderson, 2001;Matsumoto & Hwang, 2014). It would not be surprising, therefore, that observers who witnessed a crime also felt strong emotions, as they did in Houston et al (2013).…”

Emotion and False Memory

“…Participants' memory was poor both for details of the interrogation and for the interrogator. In some conditions, more than half of the trainees falsely identified their interrogator (also see Houston, Clifford, Phillips, & Memon, 2013). Thus, memories of events that are highly stressful and evoke extreme levels of emotional arousal are vulnerable to substantial error following exposure to misinformation.…”

Eyewitness memory: The impact of a negative mood during encoding and/or retrieval upon recall of a non-emotive event

“…More recently, Houston, Clifford, Phillips, and Memon (2013) showed participant eyewitnesses a video of a mugging that was emotive enough to induce a negative mood and then examined their recall of four forensically relevant categories of information. Three of these categories were central details (descriptions of the perpetrator, the victim, and their actions during the event) and one was a peripheral detail (the crime environment).…”

“…A non-emotive video showing an interaction between a man and a woman was used as the tobe-remembered event. As in many eyewitness memory studies (e.g., Memon, Wark, Bull, & Koehnken, 1997;Memon, 2006, andHouston et al, 2013) correct recall of forensically relevant categories of information was assessed, focussing on two types of central detail (the physical descriptions and actions of the protagonists) and one type of peripheral detail (the event environment). From a forensic perspective, it is helpful for police interviewers to know whether or not a negative mood at encoding and/or retrieval differentially impacts upon recall of these three types of event detail.…”

“…The neutral valence critical event video from Houston et al (2013) was used as the to-be-remembered stimuli. The video shows a woman withdrawing money from an ATM outside a supermarket, leaving the supermarket on foot via the car park, walking down a quiet road, and entering a wooded area.…”