The Dynamic and Fragile Nature of Eyewitness Memory Formation: Considering Stress and Attention

Abstract

Eyewitnesses are often susceptible to recollection failures and memory distortions. These failures and distortions are influenced by several factors. The present review will discuss two such important factors, attention failures and stress. We argue that acute stress, often experienced by eyewitnesses and victims of crimes, directly influences attentional processes, which likely has downstream consequences for memory. Attentional failures may result in individuals missing something unusual or important in a complex visual field. Amongst eyewitnesses, this can lead to individuals missing details, even unusual or important central details, regarding the crime. Surprisingly, few studies have investigated attentional failures in eyewitness scenarios, and none have investigated the relationship between stress, attention, and witness memory. This review will discuss the impact of attentional failures, mainly those resulting from inattentional blindness, in applied contexts in order to bridge to eyewitness scenarios. In addition, we will integrate the applied literature on attentional failures with literature that examines the influences of arousal and stress on attention. We will conclude by presenting how future research may tease apart the independent contributions of arousal and stress on attentional failures and successes and how this research may inform understanding of eyewitness reliability.

The effects of acute stress on eyewitness memory: an integrative review for eyewitness researchers

“…Fundamental memory researchers tend to use less complex stimuli, such as words, static pictures, or slideshows (e.g., Domes et al, 2002;Henckens et al, 2009;Payne et al, 2006;Schwabe et al, 2008). These basic stimuli likely do not reflect the attentional demands or other cognitive factors present in realworld complex scenarios, such as crimes (see Wulff & Thomas, 2021). Such differences in stimuli may play a role in the contrasting findings, as faces are processed and learned differently than other stimuli (e.g., facespecificity hypothesis; Kanwisher & Yovel, 2006) and humans are generally experts in face recognition (e.g., Diamond & Carey, 1986).…”

“…Complex, dynamic, or otherwise realistic scenarios likely do not permit the disentangling of acute stress from effects relating to attention, perception, cognitive load, and other factors. Understanding how acute stress interacts with changes in other cognitive processes, such as attention, is an additional crucial step for applied research using more complex scenarios (Wulff & Thomas, 2021). Proper stress induction and measurement should be the first priority when examining effects of acute stress on memory performance.…”

Witnesses who Experience Inattentional Blindness are Only Less Accurate and Confident Under Cued Compared to Free Recall

“…However, under cued recall, where individuals have less control over the information they provide, these witnesses may feel pressured to volunteer information they are less confident in, resulting in a less accurate account. While an exhaustive free recall is the gold standard form of initial questioning during police interviews (Brewer et al, 2018), investigators may assume that a bystander present at the scene will be able to provide information about the crime (Wulff & Thomas, 2021). Thus, they may fail to develop appropriate lines of questioning for inattentive witnesses (Hyman et al, 2018) and put pressure on witnesses who have experienced inattentional blindness by asking direct questions about the crime.…”

Predicting Perceived Problems in Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Recalls: A Quantitative Think-Aloud Study Comparing Automated Self-Assisted 24-Hour Dietary Assessment Tool (ASA24®) and INTAKE24© in University Students

“…Furthermore, we may see this in conjunction with altered stress levels throughout the semester, as participants’ stress levels may have influenced their emotions [ 58 ]. Additionally, stress influences attentional processes, contributing to memory distortions [ 59 ]. Whilst much of the literature on stress and attention surrounds recollection failures in eyewitness testimonies, it is essential for research to explore how inattentive eating and stress are present in university students [ 60 ].…”