Anxiety

• What effect does anxiety have on EWT?

  Negative
• What is the Tunnel Theory of Memory?

  It argues that a witness's attention is on the weapon (WEAPON FOCUS), because it is a source of danger and anxiety.
• What did Johnson and Scott (1976) find?

  49% of participants in the low-anxiety condition were able to identify the man in the line up.

  High anxiety condition participants was 33%
• Contradictory Findings

  INVERTED U THEORY

  Yerkes and Dodson (1908) argue that extremely high levels of anxiety would produce low recall and extremely low levels of anxiety will produce low recall but medium levels of anxiety produce high levels of recall.​
• What is the other effect anxiety can have on EWT?

  Positive
• How did Yuille and Cutshall support anxiety has a positive effect?

  YUILLE and CUTSHALL 1986

  Witnesses were very accurate and there was little change after 5 months.
• EVALUATION on ANXIETY on EWT?

  LJohnson and Scott’s study is that is may test surprise not anxiety​

  • Field studies lack control of variables​
  • Some ethical issues involved in researching anxiety​
  • Yerkes-Dodson Law is limited as it’s too simplistic​
  • Demand characteristics may have arose in the studies