NCJ Number
104405
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1987) Pages: 55-62
Date Published
1987
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This empirical study supports the concept of 'weapon focus,' which refers to a crime witness' concentration on the offender's weapon with a consequent reduction in the witness' ability to remember other details of the crime.
Abstract
In the first experiment, 36 college students viewed slides portraying an event in a fast-food restaurant. Half the subjects saw a customer point a gun at the cashier; the other half saw a customer hand the cashier a check. Subjects' eye movements when viewing the slides were recorded. A multiple choice questionnaire was used to test subjects' memory of various facts of the incident, and a 12-photo 'lineup' was used to test subjects' ability to identify the customer. A second experiment replicated the memory aspect of the first experiment, using 80 college students. In the first experiment, eye movement measurement indicated more eye fixations on the gun than on the check, and for longer periods. In the second experiment, subjects who viewed the weapon slide sequence were less likely than those who viewed the check sequence to identify the person in the photo lineup. They were also less accurate on the written test. 13 references.