We examined the effects of acute alcohol on eyewitness memory for a simulated armed robbery under laboratory conditions. Alcohol and placebo participants viewed a slide series showing a target male taking a laptop from a helpdesk assistant, either on loan or at gunpoint. Following a brief retention period, participants responded to “central” multiple-choice questions, about the target's actions face and clothing, and “peripheral” questions about other scene features. Alcohol participants shown the no-weapon scene displayed poorer peripheral memory than placebo controls, though alcohol did not impair peripheral memory among weapon scene viewers. Alcohol participants also showed a weapon focus effect, providing less accurate responses to central questions related to details about the target male than no-weapon controls. These findings are consistent with alcohol myopia theory and suggest intoxicated eyewitnesses may be more susceptible to weapon focus than sober counterparts.

中文翻译：

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目击者记忆中酒精诱发武器焦点的证据

我们在实验室条件下检查了急性酒精对模拟持械抢劫的目击者记忆的影响。酒精和安慰剂参与者观看了一系列幻灯片，显示目标男性从服务台助理处借用或用枪指着一台笔记本电脑。在短暂的保留期后，参与者回答“中心”多项选择题，关于目标的动作面部和服装，以及关于其他场景特征的“外围”问题。酒精参与者显示无武器场景显示出比安慰剂对照更差的外围记忆，尽管酒精不会损害武器场景观众的外围记忆。酒精参与者还表现出武器专注效应，与无武器控制相比，对与目标男性的细节相关的核心问题的回答不太准确。