This survey examined lay and expert beliefs about statements concerning stress effects on (eyewitness) memory. Thirty-seven eyewitness memory experts, 36 fundamental memory experts, and 109 laypeople endorsed, opposed, or selected don’t know responses for a range of statements relating to the effects of stress at encoding and retrieval. We examined proportions in each group and differences between groups (eyewitness memory experts vs. fundamental memory experts; experts vs. laypeople) for endorsements (agree vs. disagree) and selections (don’t know vs. agree/disagree). High proportions of experts from both research fields agreed that very high levels of stress impair the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. A majority of fundamental experts, but not eyewitness experts, endorsed the idea that stress experienced during encoding can enhance memory. Responses to statements regarding moderating factors such as stressor severity and detail type provided further insight into this discrepancy. Eyewitness memory experts more frequently selected the don’t know option for neuroscientific statements regarding stress effects on memory than fundamental memory experts, although don’t know selections were substantial among both expert groups. Laypeople’s responses to eight of the statements differed statistically from expert answers on topics such as memory in children, in professionals such as police officers, for faces and short crimes, and the existence of repression, providing insight into possible ‘commonsense’ beliefs on stress effects on memory. Our findings capture the current state of knowledge about stress effects on memory as reflected by sample of experts and laypeople, and highlight areas where further research and consensus would be valuable.

这项调查调查了关于压力对（目击者）记忆的影响的陈述的外行和专家信念。37 名目击者记忆专家、36 名基础记忆专家和 109 名支持、反对或选择的外行不知道对一系列与压力对编码和检索的影响有关的陈述的反应。我们检查了每个组的比例和组之间的差异（目击者记忆专家与基本记忆专家；专家与外行）的认可（同意与不同意）和选择（不知道与同意/不同意））。来自两个研究领域的高比例专家同意，非常高的压力会损害目击者证词的准确性。大多数基础专家，但不是目击者专家，赞同在编码过程中经历的压力可以增强记忆力的观点。对有关调节因素（如压力源严重程度和细节类型）的陈述的回应提供了对这种差异的进一步了解。与基本记忆专家相比，目击者记忆专家更频繁地为关于压力对记忆的神经科学陈述选择不知道选项，尽管不知道选择在两个专家组中都很重要。外行对其中八项陈述的回答与专家对诸如记忆等主题的回答有统计学差异。儿童，在警察等专业人士中，面对面子和短期犯罪，以及压抑的存在，提供了对压力对记忆力影响的可能“常识”信念的洞察。我们的研究结果反映了专家和外行样本所反映的关于压力对记忆的影响的当前知识状态，并突出了进一步研究和共识将有价值的领域。