The weapon focus effect in target-present and target-absent line-ups: The roles of threat, novelty, and timing
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2014
Abstract
When an eyewitness suffers an impairment of memory for a perpetrator because the criminal used a weapon during the crime, this impairment is called the weapon focus effect. The literature is split on how this arises: Some implicate the narrowing of attentional cues to the weapon because the arousal of the victim increases, whereas others claim that the weapon is a novel object in most everyday contexts, and novel objects demand more attention than contextually appropriate ones. The current study employed a simulated crime paradigm featuring a normal, novel, or threatening object. Timing of the object's presentation was manipulated such that it was visible before, after, or during the time when the culprit's face was visible. Target-present and target-absent line-ups as well as retrospective questions were administered. Both the novel object and the weapon resulted in increased mistaken identifications in target-absent line-ups. Structural equation modeling suggested that object novelty mediated this effect. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Publication Title
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Volume
28
Issue
3
First Page
349
Last Page
359
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1002/acp.3005
ISSN
08884080
E-ISSN
10990720
Citation Information
Erickson, Lampinen, J. M., & Leding, J. K. (2014). The Weapon Focus Effect in Target-Present and Target-Absent Line-Ups: The Roles of Threat, Novelty, and Timing. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(3), 349–359. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3005