Research suggests that stress has immediate and long-term effects on attention and memory. Rather than disrupting memory formation and consolidation, acute stress has been shown to shift attention processes resulting in a tradeoff between prioritized and nonprioritized information. Both arousal and stress result in cognitive and neurobiological shifts that often support memory formation. When an acute stressor occurs, it can distort immediate attentional focus, increasing processing for high-priority features while reducing processing for extraneous features. The downstream cognitive consequences for this (...) shift in attention are better memory for some features and poorer memory for others when compared to conditions of low stress. However, individual differences (e.g., sex, age, basal stress response, and stress reactivity) all impact the relationship between the acute stress response and memory. Although acute stress generally benefits memory formation, we suggest that forgetting and later recovery of stressful memories can better be understood by examining factors that influence the subjective experience of stress and stress reactivity. (shrink)

Eyewitnesses are often susceptible to recollection failures and memory distortions. These failures and distortions are influenced by several factors. The present review will discuss two such important factors, attention failures and stress. We argue that acute stress, often experienced by eyewitnesses and victims of crimes, directly influences attentional processes, which likely has downstream consequences for memory. Attentional failures may result in individuals missing something unusual or important in a complex visual field. Amongst eyewitnesses, this can lead to individuals missing details, (...) even unusual or important central details, regarding the crime. Surprisingly, few studies have investigated attentional failures in eyewitness scenarios, and none have investigated the relationship between stress, attention, and witness memory. This review will discuss the impact of attentional failures, mainly those resulting from inattentional blindness, in applied contexts in order to bridge to eyewitness scenarios. In addition, we will integrate the applied literature on attentional failures with literature that examines the influences of arousal and stress on attention. We will conclude by presenting how future research may tease apart the independent contributions of arousal and stress on attentional failures and successes and how this research may inform understanding of eyewitness reliability. (shrink)