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

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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.