Examining the Impact of Alcohol on Eyewitness Memory Performance

Introductory paragraph

Eyewitness evidence was considered to play an important role in solving

cases as important as other forms of trace evidence, such as hair, gunshot residue, or

pollen (Yuille & Tollestrup, 1990, Wells & Loftus, 2003). Studies on the accuracy of

memory trace evidence are necessary because, like physical traces, they can be

contaminated, lost, destroyed, and yield undesirable misleading results to the

investigation. Considered as a factor that leads to witness misconduct (Yuille &

Tollestrup, 1990), alcohol also increases eyewitness weapon focus (WF) effect

(Harvey & Sekulla, 2021). WF refers to where attention is directed towards the

weapon in a situation such that an individual often ignores other details and has

poorer memory of other details surrounding the weapon (Loftus et al., 1987,

Saunders, 2009). A recent study by Harvey & Sekulla (2021) examined the effects of

alcohol consumption on witnesses’ ability to recall details of a crime, and concluded

that acute alcohol consumption not only reduced the accuracy of general memory, but

also strengthened the WF effect of witnesses. However, Harvey & Sekulla’s research

(2021) conducted relied largely on controlled laboratory settings, which may have

resulted in the findings lacking ecological validity, therefore, limiting their

applicability to situations in real life. Consequently, by utilising live crime simulation

or video recordings of these events, the proposed study aims to improve ecological

validity, examining the effects of emotional stress, alcohol intoxication, and WF on

witness memory. The current study will contribute to create a more efficient and fair

method of gathering witness testimony.

As an important factor of evidence in solving crimes, the memory of

witnesses, victims and perpetrators is often adversely affected by alcohol

consumption, in both encoding and recalling (Maylor & Rabbitt, 1993, Ray & Bates,

2006, Mintzer, 2007, Soraci et al., 2007). Recent studies have demonstrated that

alcohol impairs eyewitness memory and increases the risk of receiving false

information, which increases as the individual’s level of intoxication increases

(Schreiber et al., 2011, Oorsouw et al., 2019).

A study was conducted by Van et al. (2015) examined whether alcohol

impairs a perpetrator’s memory of an event and increases the ability of accepting

suggestive cues during interrogation. In the study, the authors staged a mock crime

and the perpetrator participants were given instructions. The drinkers’ memory and

sensitivity were tested immediately, and their alertness and suggestibility were

monitored several days later. The results indicated that alcohol intoxication results in

lower accuracy of memory about crime details, besides, alcohol consumers tended to

follow given cues more than sober participants. The study was a testament to the

impact of drunkenness on ability to retrieval memory. Additionally, the approach

using a mock criminal to test memory and behaviour in intoxication could become a

cue used to tailor future studies on the effects of alcohol including WF on the memory

of participants as eyewitnesses.

The study conducted by Harvey & Sekulla (2021) found that alcohol not only

impaired overall memory performance, but also had different effects depending on

whether a weapon was present or not. When weapons were present, WF effect

becomes worse, which made intoxicated participants more easily distracted

(participants concentrated to focus more on the shown weapon instead of other

cognition is offered by the alcohol myopia theory (Steele & Josephs, 1990), which

proposes that intoxicated individuals acquire weaker peripheral signals because of an

attentional imbalance to situational cues that prevents them from attending to all

environmental cues at the same time. Therefore, alcohol consumers only encode and

recall salient signals, including the appearance of the weapon. However, in the

research method, participants only witnessed the crime through a series of images

recording the criminal’s behaviour, which could cause the results obtained to be

inaccurate with the reality. When witnessing actual crimes, individuals might

experience stress and anxiety, which according to Loftus (1979) will reduce recall

accuracy.

Conjointly, a research by Kramer et al. (1991) studied the effect of stress on

memory accuracy. In the study, the control group viewed a neutral type of tourist

scene. However, the remaining participants were shown a traumatic autopsy slide

embedded in the series. The results showed that participants viewing traumatic slides,

under high stress conditions, had significantly reduced memory recall for neutral

slides following traumatic stimulation. The finding supports the belief that high levels

of stress can reduce memory accuracy.

Consequently, Harvey & Sekulla’s (2021) study failed to ensure ecological

validity and did not engage closely with the dynamic realism of real armed crime.

Therefore, the proposal research aim to improve on the limitations of of previous

research, examining the effects of emotional stress, alcohol intoxication, and WF on

eyewitness memory using live crime simulation or video recording of these events.

The present study is expected to contribute to a more efficient and equitable method

of collecting eyewitness testimony.

Based on Harvey & Sekulla’s (2021) study, the level of alcohol consumption

including drunkenness and sobriety (between-subjects variable), the presence of a

weapon including weapon or no weapon (between-subject variable), and the type of

scenario including live mock-crime or video recording (within-subject variable) will

be the independent variables of the current experiment. The independent variable of

the proposal study will be the accuracy of eyewitness memory (central details and

peripheral details) and the participants’ emotional stress levels. It is hypothesised that

witnesses will have less accurate memory for both central and peripheral details than

sober witnesses, especially when weapons were present. In addition, the second

hypothesis is that live simulated crime will cause higher levels of emotional stress and

lead to poorer memory accuracy than video recording.

Based on Harvey & Sekulla’s (2021) study, the following study will include

93 participants ranging in age from 18 to 54. Before participating in the study,

individuals will be given tests to ensure they are of legal drinking age and are

physically fit to consume alcohol.

In the current study, we use a mixed-methods approach to examine the impact

of presence of weapon, emotional stress, and drunkenness on memory recall. There

will be a random assignment to one of four conditions, including sober with a

weapon, sober without a weapon, intoxicated with a weapon, and intoxicated without

a weapon. Participants will either witness a live, carefully planned staged mock crime

with trained actors in a controlled atmosphere, or watch a real video recording of the

same scenario.

The Where’s Wally? Filler task will be remained, which will be given to

participants during a 5-minute memory retention interval. With the aim of testing

individuals’ memory, a questionnaire of 20 multiple-choice question will be used to

examine the accuracy of participants’ memory. The series of questions contains 7

central questions related to the target (which will be about the target’s appearance,

outfit, and the object held), and 13 peripheral questions. In order to measure

emotional stress, we will utilise self-report questionnaires and physiological markers,

such as heart rate and cortisol levels.

Due to the fact that ethical issues are crucial, participants will be fully

informed about the study, and informed consent will be obtained, and safety

procedures will be strictly followed throughout the testing process. This strategy

ensures the well-being of participants and improves the ecological validity of our

findings.
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