starter Create a mind map with EWT placed in the middle, I would like you to write down all the things you have learned this lesson about EWT What I would also like you to do… Write down in the corner anything you aren’t sure about!

Lesson 4: ewt continued

We have looked at EWT A main criticism of the research into EWT is its use of artificial scenarios What does an artificial scenario lack that a real scenario which requires an EWT have? Emotional involvement for the witness Situations where EWT are required have a high anxiety content which can greatly affect recall

Lesson aims Be able to outline the influence of anxiety on EWT with reference to experimental studies

What is anxiety? Feelings of fear or dread Perspiration, trembling, restlessness, or muscle tension Rapid heart rate, light- headedness, shortness of breath

rate these pictures in order of anxiety ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Low anxiety High anxiety Using the photographs provided, place in order the photos in terms of anxiety levels Why did you rate these in the order you did? If situations where weapons are present induce anxiety, how do you think this influences an eyewitnesses memory?

Anxiety negatively affects EWT Loftus et al. (1987) Anxiety negatively affects EWT Participants were shown a series of photographs of a customer in a restaurant In one version, the customer was holding a gun In the other version, the customer was holding a check book Participants who saw the gun focused on the gun This is called “weapon focus” When a weapon is involved it is more likely to grab attention than any other factor This means they have a poor memory recall of the perpetrator, more so than the individuals who saw the version holding the check book This supports the premise that anxiety can divert attention away from important features

Anxiety negatively affects EWT Supporting evidence: Koehler et al. 2002 Participants are less able to recall stressful words than non-stressful words Repression Freud (1894) Anxiety hinders the recall of memories Forgetting is motivated by the traumatic content of the memory In order to protect oneself, the memories are repressed to avoid the emotional stress they may cause Research evidence for is heavily criticised Some even argue whether the concept of repression actually exists Anxiety negatively affects EWT

Yerkes-Dodson inverted-u hypothesis (iuh) Investigations have been conducted, however it is difficult to reach any form of a conclusion Yerkes-Dodson inverted-u hypothesis (iuh) According to the IUH Low levels of anxiety allow for poor detail and accuracy in the recall of information why do we think this is? Filling in the blanks through schemas! Moderate levels of anxiety improve the detail and accuracy of he memory recall to an optimum point After this optimum, the higher the anxiety level increases the detail and accuracy of recall declines

Christianson & Hubinette (1993) Studied the recall of witnesses in real bank robberies Found increased arousal lead to improvements in the accuracy of recalls Suggesting anxiety-creating situations don’t always divert attention from important features of a situation Research What is a strength of these studies?? Peters 1988 Utilised participants who were attending local health centre for an injection Participants met with nurse on several occasions over equal periods of time Each time the nurse gave them injection During their visit they spent equal lengths of time with the researcher After this at a later date, the participants found it easier to recognise the researcher from photographs than the nurse This suggests heightened anxiety levels due to injection decreases memory accuracy Anxiety positively affects EWT Anxiety negatively affects EWT

Let’s evaluate! Go to page 91 (2.5) in the Black Mask text book Make appropriate notes on the evaluation for anxiety as influencing EWT

Prep… Read pages 92-97 in the black mask Answer the following questions: What is cognitive interview? Name and describe the four components of the cognitive interview What is the difference between CI. ECI and MCI What does Memon et al. 2010 suggest about the effectiveness of all types of cognitive interview?