The relationship between arousal/strong emotion and memory is complex. The
attention-narrowing hypothesis proposed by Easterbrook is supported by
plenty of evidence that shows that overall memory performance is worse for
eyewitnesses exposed to more stressful & more violent crimes (Loftus,
Christianson, Deffenbacher, and Wells have all published multiple articles
on this and I have a study that shows this effect in both citizens and
police that will be in the American Journal of Psychology sometime next
year). However, examination of recall of specific details shows that
memory under high levels of stress is uneven (and we have to remember all
the work on flashbulb memory). Some details are remembered quite well and
others suffer - the "weapon focus effect" is an early and well-documented
demonstration of this unevenness (see Steblay for a review & meta-analysis
of this effect). Heuer & Reisberg (1992) present data indicating that
under high levels of stress/arousal, memory for phyically "central" details
(and gist-relevant information) is preserved whereas memory for physically
"peripheral" details (and gist-irrelevant information) is impaired.
Selected references follow. If you have limited time, the Egeth & the
Wells articles are the broadest and most readable overviews of the issues.
Claudia Stanny
Christianson, S-A. (1992). Emotional stress and eyewitness memory: A
critical review. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 284-309.
Deffenbacher, K. A. (1991). A maturing of research on the behaviour of
eyewitnesses. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5, 377-402.
Egeth, H. E. (1994). Emotion and the eyewitness. In P. M. Niedenthal &
S. Kitayama (Eds.), The heart's eye: Emotinal influences in perception and
attention (pp. 245-267) San Diego: Academic Press.
Heuer, F., & Reisberg, D. (1992). Emotion, arousal, and memory for
detail. In S-A Christianson (Ed.), The handbook of emotion and memory (pp.
151 - 180). Hillsdale, NJ: LEA.
Loftus, E. F., Loftus, G. R., & Messo, J. (1987). Some facts about "weapon
focus." Law and Human Behavior, 11, 55-62.
Steblay, N. M. (1992). A meta-analytic review of the weapon focus effect.
Law and Human Behavior, 16, 413-424.
Wells, G. L. (1993). What do we know about eyewitness identification?
American Psychologist, 48, 553-571.
>Need some help - I seem to be getting conflicting information. What does
>the research state on arousal level and memory? In my intro to psych book I
>read the following
>1. Epinephrine improves memory - at least in rats (Gould). In addition,
>people that exercise did better on a memory task than people that didn't (I
>can't find where I read that at right now). Arousal level may an increase
>in the glucose levels, thus more nourishment is occurring.
>2. Relative to eye witness testimony, high levels of arousal can narrow
>attention, thus leading to poor memory performance.
>I've always assumed that the second statement was correct - now I'm
>encountering the first statement. I also read that extended usage of the
>stress hormones can lead to damage.
>Thanks for any info.
>Deb
>
>Deborah S. Briihl
________________________________________________________
Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of Psychology Phone: (850) 474 - 3163
University of West Florida FAX: (850) 857 - 6060
Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751
Web: http://www.uwf.edu/~psych/stanny.html
