The effects of alcohol and co-witness information on memory reports: a field study

Georgina Bartlett; Ian P. Albery; Daniel Frings; Julie Gawrylowicz

doi:10.1007/s00213-022-06179-5

The effects of alcohol and co-witness information on memory reports: a field study

Georgina Bartlett^*, Ian P. Albery, Daniel Frings, Julie Gawrylowicz

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

3 Citations (Scopus)

110 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Rationale: Witnesses who discuss a crime together may report details that they did not see themselves but heard about from their co-witness. Co-witness information may have beneficial and harmful effects on memory accuracy depending on whether the information was correct or incorrect.

Objectives: Given the prevalence of intoxicated witnesses, it is imperative to understand how alcohol influences this effect.

Methods: The present study asked pubgoers (n = 67) at varying levels of intoxication to recall a mock crime video after having also watched a video witness statement containing both correct and false information.

Results: Increased intoxication was associated with decreased confidence, completeness and accuracy, but no increased tendency to report false information. Exposure to incorrect post-event information (PEI) can lead to the incorporation of incorrect information, whereas exposure to correct PEI increased accuracy, regardless of individuals’ alcohol intoxication status.

Conclusions: Thus, whilst discussion and intoxication can negatively impact eyewitness memory, discussion may also have benefits for both sober and intoxicated witnesses.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2945-2953
Number of pages	9
Journal	Psychopharmacology
Volume	239
Issue number	9
Early online date	28 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-022-06179-5
Publication status	Published - 1 Sept 2022

Keywords

Eyewitness memory
Intoxication
Memory conformity
Source monitoring

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Gawrylowicz_TheEfectsOfAlcoholAndCo‑WitnessInformation_Published_2022Final published version, 691 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The effects of alcohol and co-witness information on memory reports: a field study",

abstract = "Rationale: Witnesses who discuss a crime together may report details that they did not see themselves but heard about from their co-witness. Co-witness information may have beneficial and harmful effects on memory accuracy depending on whether the information was correct or incorrect.Objectives: Given the prevalence of intoxicated witnesses, it is imperative to understand how alcohol influences this effect.Methods: The present study asked pubgoers (n = 67) at varying levels of intoxication to recall a mock crime video after having also watched a video witness statement containing both correct and false information.Results: Increased intoxication was associated with decreased confidence, completeness and accuracy, but no increased tendency to report false information. Exposure to incorrect post-event information (PEI) can lead to the incorporation of incorrect information, whereas exposure to correct PEI increased accuracy, regardless of individuals{\textquoteright} alcohol intoxication status.Conclusions: Thus, whilst discussion and intoxication can negatively impact eyewitness memory, discussion may also have benefits for both sober and intoxicated witnesses.",

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AU - Bartlett, Georgina

AU - Albery, Ian P.

AU - Frings, Daniel

AU - Gawrylowicz, Julie

N1 - © 2022, The Author(s) This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Data availability statement: Not present.

PY - 2022/9/1

Y1 - 2022/9/1

N2 - Rationale: Witnesses who discuss a crime together may report details that they did not see themselves but heard about from their co-witness. Co-witness information may have beneficial and harmful effects on memory accuracy depending on whether the information was correct or incorrect.Objectives: Given the prevalence of intoxicated witnesses, it is imperative to understand how alcohol influences this effect.Methods: The present study asked pubgoers (n = 67) at varying levels of intoxication to recall a mock crime video after having also watched a video witness statement containing both correct and false information.Results: Increased intoxication was associated with decreased confidence, completeness and accuracy, but no increased tendency to report false information. Exposure to incorrect post-event information (PEI) can lead to the incorporation of incorrect information, whereas exposure to correct PEI increased accuracy, regardless of individuals’ alcohol intoxication status.Conclusions: Thus, whilst discussion and intoxication can negatively impact eyewitness memory, discussion may also have benefits for both sober and intoxicated witnesses.

AB - Rationale: Witnesses who discuss a crime together may report details that they did not see themselves but heard about from their co-witness. Co-witness information may have beneficial and harmful effects on memory accuracy depending on whether the information was correct or incorrect.Objectives: Given the prevalence of intoxicated witnesses, it is imperative to understand how alcohol influences this effect.Methods: The present study asked pubgoers (n = 67) at varying levels of intoxication to recall a mock crime video after having also watched a video witness statement containing both correct and false information.Results: Increased intoxication was associated with decreased confidence, completeness and accuracy, but no increased tendency to report false information. Exposure to incorrect post-event information (PEI) can lead to the incorporation of incorrect information, whereas exposure to correct PEI increased accuracy, regardless of individuals’ alcohol intoxication status.Conclusions: Thus, whilst discussion and intoxication can negatively impact eyewitness memory, discussion may also have benefits for both sober and intoxicated witnesses.

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JO - Psychopharmacology

JF - Psychopharmacology

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The effects of alcohol and co-witness information on memory reports: a field study

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Keywords

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