Age is a factor that can affect eyewitness testimony.

A strength of the study is that it was done in a lab which means there is high control over the variables which means the investigator can manipulate the variables. Therefore, we can infer the cause and effect and makes the study more reliable.

Research supporting this was done by Yarmey et al. they had young and elderly adults watch a filmed event and were asked questions about the event. 80% of the elderly adults forgot to mention key features whereas only 20% of the young adults made this mistake. This proves that age is a factor effecting eyewitness testimony.

However, the study was artificial. The research was done in a lab, and although it’s highly controlled it means the study lacks ecological validity and therefore cannot generalise the findings as others may react differently in other situations.

Furthermore, the study lacks informed consent, this is because the young age of the participants means they do not fully understand what they are participating in and therefore cannot give complete informed consent.

Another factor effecting eyewitness testimony is anxiety. Loftus concluded research into anxiety and the effects on EWT. In this study they had participants in either 2 conditions. The first condition was a friendly conversation where a man with greasy hands walked out. The second condition consisted of a more violent any conversation and a man with a blood stained knife walked out. They found that people who experienced the second condition were poor at recalling the man as they were more focussed on the weapon not the man’s face. They then concluded that high levels of anxiety effect EWT.

The study is artificial which means it may be hard to generalise the findings due to ecological validity and may react differently. Christison and Hubinette also concluded research into anxiety and they used a real life bank robbery. They found that people who were subjected to the most anxiety were more detailed in the recall. Concluding that high anxiety levels can improve EWT.

Furthermore as the study was done in a lab there is high control. This means the researcher can manipulate the variables and see the cause and effect of the results which makes the study more reliable.