Effects of stress on eyewitness identification in the laboratory

Heather L. Price; Laurie Sykes Tottenham; Bianca Hatin; Ryan J. Fitzgerald; Eva Rubínová

doi:10.1002/acp.3910

Effects of stress on eyewitness identification in the laboratory

Heather L. Price^*, Laurie Sykes Tottenham, Bianca Hatin, Ryan J. Fitzgerald, Eva Rubínová

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Witnesses to crime often experience stress during the witnessed event. However, most laboratory studies examining eyewitness memory do not include a stressful encoding event. Participants (N = 129) completed an experimental stress induction procedure—a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test. We designed three conditions to manipulate the amount of stress experienced and included three types of measures to assess the effectiveness of the manipulation: cortisol levels (hormonal), blood pressure and heart rate (autonomic), and self-report (subjective). Participants watched a video that had a surprise viewing of a staged theft and completed two lineup identification tasks. We observed no effects of stress on the accuracy or willingness to choose from a lineup. Importantly, there was variability in the correspondence between measured indicators of stress, which should be considered in future designs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	191-202
Number of pages	12
Journal	Applied Cognitive Psychology
Volume	36
Issue number	1
Early online date	3 Jan 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3910
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Grant/Award Number: 2017‐04986; University of Regina Dean's Research Award; Canada Foundation for Innovation Funding information

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to the first author, Canada Foundation for Innovation grants to the first and second authors, and a University of Regina Dean's Research Award to the first two authors. The authors thank the following research assistants: Denis Gavigan, Dallas Novakowsky, Mark Adkins, Mackenzie Kent, Odell Tan, Jessica Scott, Yuijin Zou, Dominique Dupuis, and Allison Owens.

Keywords

encoding
eyewitness
identification
laboratory
stress

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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abstract = "Witnesses to crime often experience stress during the witnessed event. However, most laboratory studies examining eyewitness memory do not include a stressful encoding event. Participants (N = 129) completed an experimental stress induction procedure—a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test. We designed three conditions to manipulate the amount of stress experienced and included three types of measures to assess the effectiveness of the manipulation: cortisol levels (hormonal), blood pressure and heart rate (autonomic), and self-report (subjective). Participants watched a video that had a surprise viewing of a staged theft and completed two lineup identification tasks. We observed no effects of stress on the accuracy or willingness to choose from a lineup. Importantly, there was variability in the correspondence between measured indicators of stress, which should be considered in future designs.",

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N1 - Funding Information: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Grant/Award Number: 2017‐04986; University of Regina Dean's Research Award; Canada Foundation for Innovation Funding information ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research was funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to the first author, Canada Foundation for Innovation grants to the first and second authors, and a University of Regina Dean's Research Award to the first two authors. The authors thank the following research assistants: Denis Gavigan, Dallas Novakowsky, Mark Adkins, Mackenzie Kent, Odell Tan, Jessica Scott, Yuijin Zou, Dominique Dupuis, and Allison Owens.

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Effects of stress on eyewitness identification in the laboratory

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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