Loftus et al found that participants in the gun condition (11%) were less likely to identify the customer in an identity parade compared to those who had seen the cheque book (39%), this shows that fear caused by the presence of the weapon reduces accuracy of the witness testimony, supporting weapon focus effect.
Weakness 1 of weapon focus effect
Hope et al found that the weapon condition (gun) gave more detail of the object being held but less detail of the event with only 57% accuracy compared to 70% for the unusual object (feather duster) and 80% accuracy for the control condition (wallet). This suggests that arousal and fear are more important in affecting accuracy of the weapon than the unusualness of the scene.
