The Effects of Alcohol on Crime‐related Memories: A Field Study

Oorsouw, Kim van; Merckelbach, Harald

doi:10.1002/acp.1799

Cited by 47 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…BAC = 0.1 are difficult to study experimentally, both for ethical reasons and because of participants’ inability to follow experimental instructions. Hence, conducting naturalistic studies (e.g., Van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, ; Van Oorsouw, Merckelbach & Smeets, ) is currently one of the best options when trying to capture the effects of severe intoxication on crime related memories. However, one laboratory study (Goodwin, Othmer, Halikas & Freemon, ) which tested very high doses (2–4g/kg) experimentally, showed that participants who did not recall neutral items or scenes from an emotionally arousing movie 30 min after having seen them, did not recall them 24 hours later either.…”

Section: The Importance Of Bac For Impairment Of Working Memory and Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interviewing intoxicated witnesses: Memory performance in theory and practice

Karlén

2017

Scandinavian J Psychology

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Memory encoding and recall involving complex, effortful cognitive processes are impaired by alcohol primarily due to impairment of a select few, but crucial, cortical areas. This review shows how alcohol affects some, but not all, aspects of eyewitnesses' oral free recall performance. The principal results, so far, are that: a) free recall reports by intoxicated witnesses (at the investigated BAC-levels) may contain less, but as accurate, information as reports by sober witnesses; b) immediate reports given by intoxicated witnesses may yield more information compared to reports by sober witnesses given after a one week delay; c) an immediate interview may enhance both intoxicated and sober witnesses' ability to report information in a later interview; and d) reminiscence seems to occur over repeated interviews and the new information seems to be as accurate as the previously reported information. Based on this, recommendations are given for future research to enhance understanding of the multifaceted impact of alcohol on witnesses' oral free recall of violent crimes.

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Section: The Importance Of Bac For Impairment Of Working Memory and Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interviewing intoxicated witnesses: Memory performance in theory and practice

Karlén

2017

Scandinavian J Psychology

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“…Previous studies on the effect of alcohol on witness performance have used the following methodology. First, participants consume alcohol, either self‐administrated in a bar (van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, ) or research administrated doses in a laboratory (Yuille & Tollestrup, ). A crime or simple interaction takes place; either staged live (Schreiber Compo, Evans, Carol et al ., ; Yuille & Tollestrup, ) or on film (van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

Hagsand

Hjelmsäter

Granhag

et al. 2013

Scandinavian J Psychology

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This study investigated how different doses of alcohol affected eyewitness recall. Participants (N = 126) were randomly assigned to three groups with different blood alcohol concentration (BAC), either a control group (mean BAC 0.00%, N = 42), a lower alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.04%, N = 40), or a higher alcohol dose group (mean BAC 0.06%, N = 44). After consumption, participants witnessed a movie of a mock crime and were interviewed one week later. The main results showed that witnesses with the higher intoxication level recalled fewer details compared to witnesses with the lower intoxication level. The amount of alcohol consumed did not have an impact on the accuracy rate. No sex differences were found. The results are discussed in the light of past research. We conclude that more studies are needed before recommendations can be made to an applied setting.

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“…For example, we know that the salience of the to-be-remembered information is important. Alcohol appears to maintain attention on central or salient cues in the environment at the expense of attention to peripheral cues, a phenomenon known as alcohol myopia (Read et al, 1992;Schreiber Compo et al, 2011;Steele & Joseph, 1990;van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, 2012). Hence, intoxicated witnesses may provide accurate information about some aspects of the crime.…”

Section: Intoxicated Witnesses and Suspectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies from the witness memory literature show that alcohol intoxication has an impact on the accuracy of testimony (Read, Yuille, & Tollestrup, 1992;Schreiber Compo et al, 2011;van Oorsouw & Merckelbach, 2012;Yuille & Tollestrup, 1990) and witness identifications (Dysart, Lindsay, MacDonald, & Wicke, 2002;Read et al, 1992;Valentine, Fausia, Fantham & Davis, 2012;Yuille & Tollestrup, 1990).…”

Section: Criminal Case Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intoxicated witnesses and suspects: An archival analysis of their involvement in criminal case processing.

Palmer¹,

Flowe²,

Takarangi³

et al. 2013

Law and Human Behavior

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Research about intoxicated witnesses and criminal suspects is surprisingly limited, considering the police believe that they are quite ubiquitous. In the present study, we assessed the involvement of intoxicated witnesses and suspects in the investigation of rape, robbery and assault crimes by analyzing cases that were referred by the police to a prosecutor's office. Results indicated that intoxicated witnesses and suspects played an appreciable role in criminal investigations: Intoxicated witnesses were just as likely as sober ones to provide a description of the culprit and to take an identification test, suggesting criminal investigators treat intoxicated and sober witnesses similarly. Moreover, intoxicated suspects typically admitted to the police that they had consumed alcohol and/or drugs, and they were usually arrested on the same day as the crime. This archival analysis highlights the many ways in which alcohol impacts testimony during criminal investigations, and underscores the need for additional research to investigate best practices for obtaining testimony from intoxicated witnesses and suspects.

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The Effects of Alcohol on Crime‐related Memories: A Field Study

Cited by 47 publications

References 36 publications

Interviewing intoxicated witnesses: Memory performance in theory and practice

Interviewing intoxicated witnesses: Memory performance in theory and practice

Bottled memories: On how alcohol affects eyewitness recall

Intoxicated witnesses and suspects: An archival analysis of their involvement in criminal case processing.

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