This is so good—I was laughing so hard. 'Instituted an assessment program where we assess how we assess what we already assessed' feels quintessentially UK.

8/8 So, is a knife the same as a plunger? Our results suggest they share similarities, but that weapons have unique properties beyond unusualness that also shape where observers look in dynamic scenes involving weapons.

7/8 Overall, our results show that the attentional effects of weapons are more complex than the long-presumed attentional shift from the perpetrator to the weapon. Our memory results corroborate our previous findings that the memory-related WFE is not a universal phenomenon.

6/8 As in our previous study on the WFE, we mostly failed to replicate the classic memory impairment associated with weapon presence. This is despite the fact that we took great care to create stimulus material tailored to elicit a maximum memory effect.

5/8 Comparing the attentional effects of the weapon and the unusual object revealed both similarities and differences. The similarities suggest that unusualness is an important factor, while the differences show that other mechanisms such as arousal/threat are also at play.

4/8 We did, however, observe more complex attentional effects of weapon presence. For example, weapon presence led observers to focus less on the perpetrator’s face and more on her body, possibly in order to assess whether she was about to use the weapon.

3/8 Contrary to the predictions of current theories, but in line with the results of our previous study on the WFE, neither the knife nor the plunger attracted more attention than the water bottle, and weapon presence did not reduce viewing time on the perpetrator.

2/8 We directly tested this unusual-item hypothesis using #EyeTracking and video stimuli of a mock crime. In different versions of our videos, the perpetrator carried either a weapon (a knife), a non-threatening unusual object (a plunger), or a neutral object (a water bottle).

1/8 The weapon-focus effect (WFE) is a phenomenon where eyewitnesses to a crime recall a perpetrator’s appearance less accurately if he/she carried a weapon. One popular hypothesis posits that weapons attract attention because they are unusual and unexpected in many contexts.

8/8 So, is a knife the same as a plunger? Our results suggest they share similarities, but that weapons have unique properties beyond unusualness that also shape where observers look in dynamic scenes involving weapons.

7/8 Overall, our results show that the attentional effects of weapons are more complex than the long-presumed attentional shift from the perpetrator to the weapon. Our memory results corroborate our previous findings that the memory-related WFE is not a universal phenomenon.

6/8 As in our previous study on the WFE, we mostly failed to replicate the classic memory impairment associated with weapon presence. This is despite the fact that we took great care to create stimulus material tailored to elicit a maximum memory effect.

5/8 Comparing the attentional effects of the weapon and the unusual object revealed both similarities and differences. The similarities suggest that unusualness is an important factor, while the differences show that other mechanisms such as arousal/threat are also at play.

4/8 We did, however, observe more complex attentional effects of weapon presence. For example, weapon presence led observers to focus less on the perpetrator’s face and more on her body, possibly in order to assess whether she was about to use the weapon.

3/8 Contrary to the predictions of current theories, but in line with the results of our previous study on the WFE, neither the knife nor the plunger attracted more attention than the water bottle, and weapon presence did not reduce viewing time on the perpetrator.

2/8 We directly tested this unusual-item hypothesis using #EyeTracking and video stimuli of a mock crime. In different versions of our videos, the perpetrator carried either a weapon (a knife), a non-threatening unusual object (a plunger), or a neutral object (a water bottle).

1/8 The weapon-focus effect (WFE) is a phenomenon where eyewitnesses to a crime recall a perpetrator’s appearance less accurately if he/she carried a weapon. One popular hypothesis posits that weapons attract attention because they are unusual and unexpected in many contexts.