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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饮酒。与清醒的受害者相比，犯罪发生时受到影响的受害者不太可能被起诉。法律系统的一个主要担忧是，受酒精影响的受害者将不会从法医角度记住有关袭击的信息。然而，到目前为止，还没有系统地研究酒精对记忆性侵犯行为的影响。这项研究的首要目标是预测受到酒精影响的受害者何时会准确地记住性侵犯的细节。调查结果将为制定与醉酒证人面谈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。以前的研究表明，酒精中毒会缩小注意力，从而使人们对情况中最核心和最重要的情感因素更有反应。在强奸的背景下，罪犯的外表和行为是情况中最突出的情感方面。情况的其他方面--如旁观者的存在和物理环境--被认为是无关紧要的，因为它们没有引起受害者的注意。莱斯特大学进行的一项初步研究首次证明，当人们在酒精影响下时，人们对性侵的重要信息和外围信息的记忆是不同的。由于之前的研究--相当令人惊讶--没有研究这一现象，因此需要研究来更好地理解酒精中毒、信息突显和性侵犯记忆之间的关系。因此，计划了一组相互关联的3个实验。在所有3个实验中，女性参与者将阅读一个性侵场景。参与者在阅读情景时的酒精中毒程度将受到实验控制。24小时后，参与者将对情景进行识别记忆测试。在第一个实验中，被给予不同剂量酒精的参与者的记忆将被检查，看看他们在准确性方面是否存在差异。我们将测试是否会因为酒精剂量而在记住情景犯罪者方面有所不同。此外，对假设性侵犯的记忆的质量特征，如记忆的鲜活程度，参与者在回忆时感觉自己在重温记忆，等等，将与酒精剂量有关。第二个实验将基于第一个实验的结果，检查醉酒的参与者在接受认知访谈时是否提供了不那么准确的信息。使用认知访谈来检验性侵犯记忆的准确性是很重要的，因为这是刑事调查员使用的一种法医访谈技术。第三个实验考察了在阅读场景时受到酒精影响的参与者是否更容易记忆扭曲。受害者经常推迟向警方报案性侵犯。延迟报告是一个潜在的问题，因为之前的研究发现，延迟报告会增加一个人对记忆扭曲的易感性。因此，重要的是要评估酒精中毒是否比受害者没有醉酒时更容易导致记忆扭曲。总而言之，这项拟议的研究旨在描述和预测性侵犯受害者在酒精影响下何时会准确地记住与法医相关的信息。这个项目可能会对性侵犯受害者、公共安全和公共政策产生深远的影响。