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The Effect of Emotional Salience and Alcohol on Women's Memories for Sexual Assault

情绪凸显和酒精对女性性侵犯记忆的影响

基本信息

批准号：
ES/J005169/1
负责人：
Heather Flowe
金额：
$ 8.69万
依托单位：
University of Leicester
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FJ005169%2F1
关键词：
Effect Emotional Salience Alcohol Women

项目摘要

Sexual offenses often involve alcohol use by the victim and perpetrator. Victims who were under the influence at the time of the crime are less likely to have their cases prosecuted compared to victims who were sober. A major concern the legal system has is that victims who were under influence of alcohol will not remember forensically information about the assault. To date, however, no research has systematically examined the influence of alcohol on remembering sexual offenses.The overarching objective of the research is to predict when victims who were under the influence of alcohol will accurately remember details about a sexual offense. The results will provide essential knowledge for establishing best practice guidelines for interviewing witnesses who were intoxicated. Currently, no such guidelines exist anywhere in the world. Previous research suggests that alcohol intoxication narrows attention, thereby making people more responsive to the most central and emotionally salient elements of a situation. In the context of rape, the culprit's physical appearance and actions are the most emotionally salient aspects of the situation. Other aspects of the situation-such as the presence of bystanders and the physical environment, are considered peripheral because they capture less of the victim's attention. Pilot research carried out at the University of Leicester has found the first support that salient and peripheral information about a sexual assault is remembered differently when people are under the influence of alcohol. As previous research-quite surprisingly-has not examined this phenomenon, research is needed to better understand the relationship between alcohol intoxication, information salience, and memory for sexual assault. As such, a set of 3 interrelated experiments are planned.In all 3 experiments, female participants will read a sexual assault scenario. Participant alcohol intoxication level whist reading the scenario will be experimentally controlled. 24 hours later participants will have their recognition memory for the scenario tested.In the first experiment, the memories of participants who were given different doses of alcohol will be examined to see if they differ in terms of their accuracy. We will test whether there is a difference in remembering the scenario perpetrator as a consequence of alcohol dose. Additionally, the qualitative characteristics of memories for the hypothetical sexual assault, such as the vividness of the memory, how much participants feel they are reliving the memory as they recall it, and so on, will be examined in relation to alcohol dose.The second experiment will build upon the results of the first experiment by examining whether intoxicated participants provide less accurate information when they are administered the Cognitive Interview. It is important to examine the accuracy of sexual assault memories using the Cognitive Interview because it is a forensic interview technique that is used by criminal investigators.The third experiment examines whether participants who were under the influence of alcohol whilst reading the scenario are more susceptible to memory distortion. Victims frequently delay reporting sexual assault to the police. Delayed reporting is potentially problematic because previous research has found that delayed reports increases one's susceptibility to memory distortion. Therefore, it is important to assess whether alcohol intoxication leads to memory distortion more often than when the victim is not intoxicated. In sum, the proposed research aims to describe and predict when victims of sexual assault who are under the influence of alcohol will accurately remember forensically relevant information. This project may have far reaching implications for sexual assault victims, public safety, and public policy.

性犯罪通常涉及受害者和犯罪者的酒精使用。与清醒的受害者相比，在犯罪时受到影响的受害者的案件不太可能被起诉。法律的系统的一个主要问题是，受酒精影响的受害者不会记得有关袭击的法医信息。然而，到目前为止，还没有研究系统地研究酒精对性犯罪记忆的影响。研究的首要目标是预测受酒精影响的受害者何时能准确地记住性犯罪的细节。调查结果将为制定采访醉酒证人的最佳做法指南提供必要的知识。目前，世界上任何地方都没有这样的指导方针。先前的研究表明，酒精中毒会缩小注意力，从而使人们对一种情况中最核心和最情绪化的元素反应更灵敏。在强奸的情况下，罪犯的外表和行为是情况中情感上最突出的方面。其他方面的情况，如旁观者的存在和物理环境，被认为是外围的，因为他们捕获受害者的注意力较少。在莱斯特大学进行的试点研究发现了第一个支持，即当人们受到酒精的影响时，关于性侵犯的突出和外围信息会以不同的方式被记住。由于以前的研究--因此，我们设计了一组三个相互关联的实验，在所有三个实验中，女性参与者将阅读一个性侵犯场景。参与者在阅读场景时的酒精中毒水平将通过实验进行控制。24小时后，参与者将接受对场景的识别记忆测试。在第一个实验中，将检查被给予不同剂量酒精的参与者的记忆，看看他们的准确性是否不同。我们将测试是否有一个差异，在记住的情况下肇事者作为酒精剂量的后果。此外，假设性侵犯的记忆的定性特征，如记忆的生动性，参与者在回忆时有多少感觉他们正在重温记忆，等等，第二个实验将建立在第一个实验的结果之上，通过检查醉酒的参与者在接受认知测试时是否提供了不太准确的信息。采访使用认知访谈来检查性侵犯记忆的准确性很重要，因为它是刑事调查人员使用的一种法医访谈技术。第三个实验检查在阅读场景时受到酒精影响的参与者是否更容易受到影响记忆失真。受害者经常拖延向警方报告性侵犯。延迟报告是潜在的问题，因为以前的研究发现，延迟报告增加了一个人对记忆扭曲的敏感性。因此，重要的是要评估酒精中毒是否比受害者没有中毒时更容易导致记忆失真。总之，拟议的研究旨在描述和预测酒精影响下的性侵犯受害者何时会准确地记住法医相关信息。该项目可能对性侵犯受害者、公共安全和公共政策产生深远影响。