Negative effect on recall (weapon focus)

• One approach to studying anxiety and EWT is to look at the effect of the presence of a weapon which creates anxiety. This leads to a focus on the weapon, reducing a witness' recall for other details of the event.
• Procedure


  Craig Johnson and William Scott (1976) had participants believe they were taking part in a lab study:

  • While in the 'waiting room' the low-anxiety condition participants heard a casual conversation and saw a man walk past with grease on his hands holding a pen.
  • The high-anxiety condition participants heard a heated argument and breaking glass, and saw a man walk past with blood on his hands holding a knife
• Findings and conclusion


  The participants later picked out the man from a set of 50 photos:

  • 49% of the low-anxiety condition were able to identify him correctly, compared to only 33% of the high-anxiety condition
  • The tunnel theory of memory argues that people have an enhanced memory for central events. As a result of anxiety, weapon focus can have this effect