Eyewitness memory: The impact of a negative mood during encoding and/or retrieval upon recall of a non-emotive event

Craig Thorley,Stephen A Dewhurst,Joseph W Abel,Lauren M Knott

doi:10.1080/09658211.2015.1058955

Craig Thorley, Stephen A Dewhurst + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2015.1058955

Copy DOI

Abstract

The police often appeal for eyewitnesses to events that were unlikely to have been emotive when observed. An eyewitness, however, may be in a negative mood whilst encoding or retrieving such events as mood can be influenced by a range of personal, social, and environmental factors. For example, bad weather can induce a negative mood. This experiment compared the impact of negative and neutral moods during encoding and/or retrieval upon eyewitness recall of a non-emotive event. A negative mood during encoding had no impact upon the number of correct details recalled (provided participants were in a neutral mood at retrieval) but a negative mood during retrieval impaired the number of correct details recalled (provided participants were in a neutral mood at encoding). A negative mood at both time points enhanced the number of correct details recalled, demonstrating a mood-dependent memory enhancement. The forensic implications of these findings are discussed.

Highlights

Eyewitness memory: The impact of a negative mood during encoding and/or retrieval upon recall of a non-emotive event
All reported good or very good health on an author generated five-point Likert scale (1 = very bad health; 2 = bad health; 3 = okay health; 4 = good health; 5 = very good health) and none reported taking medication that can influence mood. They were screened for symptoms of anxiety or depression using The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) as pre-existing depressive mood states could interfere with the moods we were trying to induce
Valence scores after watching the neutral videos were slightly above the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scale mid-point and valence scores after watching the negative mood videos were below the scale mid-point, indicative of neutral and negative moods respectively

Summary

Introduction

Eyewitness memory: The impact of a negative mood during encoding and/or retrieval upon recall of a non-emotive event This prediction is consistent with both the Resource Allocation Model, which suggests a negative mood at retrieval impairs recall of non-emotive information, and past research demonstrating such an effect (Ellis et al, 1985; Roos & Gow, 2007).

Results

Conclusion