Anxiety Eyewitness Testimony

There have been two main studies into the effects of anxiety on eye-witness testimony (EWT), each producing conflicting results. The first was a study by Johnson and Scott (1976), the second by Yuille and Cutshall (1986).
In Johnson and Scott’s study participants were told they would be taking part in a lab study. Whilst seated in a ‘waiting room’ they would hear an argument in the adjoining room. In the ‘low-anxiety’ condition, a man would walk through the waiting area carrying a pen with his hands covered in grease. In the ‘high-anxiety’ condition, the same argument was heard, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, then the same man would walk through holding a paper knife covered in blood.
This study found that when later asked to