Does experiencing inattentional blindness for crime influence eyewitness recall?

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Eyewitness Testimony Research

Background:

• Attention is crucial for memory encoding.
• Inattentional blindness occurs when attention is diverted from salient events.
• Eyewitness memory can be influenced by post-event information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of inattentional blindness on eyewitness recall accuracy.
• To examine the impact of post-event misinformation on witnesses experiencing inattentional blindness.
• To assess recall performance under different instruction conditions.

Main Methods:

• 174 participants performed an attention-demanding task while viewing an assault video.
• Inattentional blindness was assessed.
• Participants received post-event misinformation before a cued-recall task.

Main Results:

• 65.5% of participants experienced inattentional blindness for the assault.
• Inattentional blindness significantly reduced recall accuracy, confidence, and completeness.
• Inattentional blindness increased susceptibility to misinformation.
• Witnesses experiencing inattentional blindness relied more on post-event information.

Conclusions:

• Inattentional blindness impairs eyewitness memory recall.
• Witnesses who did not attend to a crime are less reliable and more susceptible to suggestion.
• Interviewing strategies should account for potential inattentional blindness in witnesses.