Date of Award
Fall 11-12-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
November 2025
Department
Psychology
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Alan Kersten
Abstract
Decades of eye-tracking and memory research support the weapon focus effect, that weapons attract visual attention during criminal events which leaves less attention to focus on other event features. Relevant memory tests, however, typically only evaluate recognition of the perpetrator committing a crime. Rarely, if at all, do researchers use direct tests of memory for the weapons. Therefore, it is less understood if viewers are simply attending to objects or if they are encoding their details. In the present studies, we successfully replicated the attentional weapon focus effect with newly filmed stimuli of criminal and neutral events. The second experiment evaluated feature and associative memory for weapons, their actions, and actors. Results display increased recognition for weapons compared to neutral objects; however, this finding might be explained by differences in the objects’ visual similarity. We then tested participants’ memory for weapons and actors using object and person lineups. Results demonstrated worsened accuracy for weapons compared to neutral objects, indicating that participants struggle to discern between the weapon they saw and others that match the same general description but differ in fine-grain details. Therefore, participants may not be encoding the specific details of a weapon when it is present but may be categorizing the object as life-threatening.
Recommended Citation
Pugh, Lindsey, "THE WEAPON FOCUS EFFECT: EXAMINING ATTENTION AND MEMORY FOR WEAPONS AND THEIR ACTIONS" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 217.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general/217