ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how attentional and memory process may affect a witness's capacity to give accurate testimony through weapon focus, the misinformation effect and the effects of emotional arousal. Besides supporting the use of cognitive interviewing with children, these findings underline the importance of social interaction as an influence on the quality of children's testimony. The participants had first been given a lecture on either the weapon focus effect and the importance of attending to facial features or a lecture on another aspect of witness testimony. Although studies like these suggest that weapon focus affects memory, the use of slides under laboratory conditions does not directly resemble the conditions of real-world witnesses. Because of its effectiveness in improving the quality of adult witness testimony, cognitive interviewing has also been tested with child witnesses. Children and elderly people are more prone whereas those with higher IQs and good working memory appear less susceptible to the effect of post-event information.
