Stress, Encoding Time, and Facial Recognition
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Psychology and Special Education
Date of Award
5-22-2024
Abstract
Given the stressful nature of crimes, many eyewitness researchers have attempted to investigate the effects of acute stress on eyewitness memory. However, the numerous experiments conducted in this area have yielded mixed results, prompting experts to proffer explanations that unfortunately continue to leave much unexplained (Christianson, 1992; Deffenbacher, 1983; Deffenbacher et al., 2004; Gering, 2021). Since most eyewitness researchers concerned with the effects of stress on memory have focused on explaining these mixed results, few have investigated how stress may interact with other variables. This research endeavored to investigate how stress and encoding time for faces might interact to influence eyewitness memory, as well as the confidence-accuracy and response time-accuracy relationships. 124 participants were gathered from A&M Commerce’s SONA subject pool for the experiment, which conformed to a 2 (stress: control vs cold pressor) x 2 (encoding time: 0.5 seconds vs 1.5 seconds) mixed factorial design with stress manipulated between subjects and encoding time manipulated within subjects. While we found that memory was worse for the short encoding time condition and for the stress group, we did not find a significant interaction. While stress alone was not found to harm the confidence-accuracy relationship, the combination of stress and a shorter encoding time did reduce accuracy for the highest confidence rating. Stress also harmed the response-time accuracy relationship. These findings are discussed in light of the complex and fickle nature of the stress response.
Advisor
Curt Carlson
Subject Categories
Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Brand, Zane Travis, "Stress, Encoding Time, and Facial Recognition" (2024). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 1170.
https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/etd/1170
