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Alcohol Education and Research Council
Presentation
Title
Alcohol and memory
for sexual
aggression: Encoding failure
Speaker’s
dependsname
on the emotional salience
of the to-be-remembered information
Heather D. Flowe and Naomi Cable
http://www.le.ac.uk/pc/cap/hf49/
Alcohol and Sexual Assault
•  An estimated 1 out of 10 sexual assault cases are
prosecuted in the United Kingdom
•  Alcohol is often antecedent to sexual assault, with up
to 75% involving alcohol use on the part of the victim,
the perpetrator, or both (Stern, 2010)
•  Prosecutors reject 65% of rape cases (Flowe et al.,
2011), most often citing victim considerations such as
alcohol use
•  Alcohol:
–  Prejudicial aspect
–  Probative aspect
Alcohol and Sexual Assault
•  “Advocates and SANEs [Sexual Assault
Nurse Examiners] get frustrated when we
can’t move forward with an investigation,
but sometimes we can’t because the
victim doesn’t remember what happened
or there are inconsistencies [in her
story].”
•  From (Cole & Logan, 2010)
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Research Objectives
•  Test whether the accuracy of women’s
memories for sexual assault is negatively
affected by alcohol
–  Are women more likely to remember information
about the perpetrator compared to the more
peripheral aspects of the encounter?
–  Is memory for peripheral information affected by
alcohol to a greater extent than memory for the
perpetrator?
Alcohol Myopia Theory
(Steele & Joseph, 1990)
•  Proposes that alcohol narrows the
perceptual field, thereby making
people more responsive to salient
information and less responsive to
peripheral information
Alcohol Myopia Theory
•  Based on AMT, we hypothesised
that women who are under the
influence will remember
peripheral information less
accurately than salient
information
•  How do you define salience?
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Cue Utilization Theory
(Easterbrook, 1959)
•  Emotional arousal restricts the focus of
attention to stimuli in the environment
that that are causing arousal
–  Salient stimuli we defined in relation to the
perpetrator, as the perpetrator is the cause of
emotional arousal to the victim.
–  Other event stimuli (bystanders and physical
surroundings) are defined as peripheral
Cue Utilization Theory
•  Emotional arousal can enhance memory
for emotionally salient stimuli
(Christianson, 1992)
–  Emotionally arousing experiences produces
memory enhancements for details related to
the emotion laden stimulus at the cost of less
elaboration and consolidation of memory for
peripheral details
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Method
•  Recruitment and study procedures adhered to
BPS ethics criteria
•  Participants:
–  128 women recruited from public houses
–  61% completed both sessions of the study
–  For participants who completed both sessions
(n = 74):
• 32% were not drinking during Session 1 (BAC=0)
• Among drinkers: M BAC = .06 (SD =.03, Median = .
06, Range: .01-.10)
• 100% indicated they were sober during Session II
Method: Session 1, Encoding Phase
Method: Session 1, Encoding Phase
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Method: Session 1, Encoding Phase
Method: Session 1, Encoding Phase
Method: Session 2, Recognition Phase
•  Online multiple choice test 24 hours later
•  Number of correct salient items (n=15) and
number of peripheral items (n=15) were
tabulated
•  Examples of Salient Items:
–  What was Michael’s surname?
–  What was Michael wearing?
–  How old was Michael?
•  Examples of Peripheral Items:
–  What type of car did Michael have?
–  What type of material was the
unusual lamp made out of?
–  At what time did you leave the bar?
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Data Analysis
•  2 Item Type (salient versus peripheral) x 2 BAC
(low versus high, based on a median split of
BAC scores) mixed design
•  Other variables measured: Participant sexual
experience, whether the participant would
report the sexual assault to the police
•  Data analysed with Survival Analysis and
ANOVAs
Preliminary Analyses
•  Women with more sexual experience remain in the scenario longer
•  Women indicated that they would not report what happened in the scenario
to the police remained in the scenario longer (also see Flowe et al., 2007)
Results
10
9
8
Correct Details
7
6
5
Central
Peripheral
4
3
2
1
0
Not Intoxicated
Intoxicated
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Results
10
9
8
Correct Details
7
6
5
Central
Peripheral
4
3
2
1
0
Would Not Report
Would Report
Implications and Future Directions
•  Results are in keeping with Alcohol
Myopia Theory
–  Women who were under the influence
remembered less peripheral information, but
they were equally as good at remembering
information about the perpetrator
Implications and Future Directions
•  Cue Utilization Theory may also account
for the results
–  Preliminary results from a follow-up study
indicated that women who report strong
negative affect remember more details about
the perpetrator
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Acknowledgement
Presentation
Title
We would like to thank
the
Alcohol Education and Research
Speaker’s
Councilname
for supporting this
research through a small grant made
to the first author.
http://www.le.ac.uk/pc/cap/hf49/
School of Psychology, Forensic Section
References
Cole, J., & Logan, T. (2010). Interprofessional collaboration on sexual assault response teams (SART): The
roleof victim alcohol use and a known-perpetrator. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 336-57.
Presentation Title
Christianson, S. A. (1992). Emotional stress and eyewitness memory: A critical review. Psychological Bulletin,
112, 284-309.
Thank you!
Easterbrook, J.A., 1959. The effect of emotion on cue utilization and the organization of behavior.
Psychological Review, 66,183–201.
Speaker’s name
hf49@le.ac.uk
Flowe, H., Ebbesen, E., & Putcha-Bhagavatula, A. (2007). Rape shield laws and sexual behavior evidence:
Effects of consent level and women's sexual history on rape allegations. Law and Human Behavior, 31(2),
159-175. doi:10.1007/s10979-006-9050-z.
Flowe, H. D., Mehta, A., & Ebbesen, E. B. (2010). The role of eyewitness identification evidence in felony case
processing. Psychology, Public Policy and Law, 17, 140-159. doi: 10.1037/a0021311
Stern, V. (2010), The Stern Review: An Independent Review of How Rape Complaints are Handled by Public
Authorities in England and Wales, London: Government Equalities Office/Home Office.
Steel, C. M., & Joseph, R. A. (1990). Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist,
45, 921-933.
http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/psychology/ppl/hf49
School of Psychology, Forensic Section
Presentation Title
Thank you!
Speaker’s name
hf49@le.ac.uk
http://www.le.ac.uk/pc/cap/hf49/
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