Study factors affecting eyewitness memory reliability, including stress, arousal, weapon focus, leading questions, post-event information and explanations for inaccurate recall.
Francesco witnessed a robbery in his local shop. Three men entered the shop and held two employees at gun point. They stole money and valuables from the shop and then ran towards a parked car that drove them away.
Francesco was interviewed by the police at the scene. He could not recall much about what the three men looked like, but he could recall their weapons.
Describe why Francesco may have been unable to remember what the three men looked like.
AO2 (2 marks)
Credit up to two marks for accurate description in relation to scenario.
For example:
- Weapon focus means Francesco was concentrating on the robbers'
guns (1) so his attention was diverted from the features of the
robbers themselves (1).
Look for other reasonable marking points.
Generic answers score 0 marks.
(2)