Editorial: The impact of alcohol and drugs on suspects', victims' and witnesses' cognition and memory

Angelica V. Hagsand, Heather Flowe, Melanie Takarangi, Julie Gawrylowicz

Research output: Contribution to journalEditorial

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Abstract

In many societies around the world, alcohol and other drug use and abuse pose major health and safety problems. There is a clear link between alcohol consumption and lack of impulse control and an increased risk of violence, which leads to a high prevalence of intoxicated victims, witnesses, and suspects—especially in relation to violent crimes. Although recent years have seen an increase in applied research on the acute effects of alcohol and other drugs on memory and cognition, especially on the topic of eyewitness memory, there are still many gaps in our knowledge. Indeed, more research is needed to further disentangle the often-complex effects of alcohol and other drugs, especially in applied forensic contexts, such as witness and suspect investigative interviewing.

For theoretical reasons, it is critical to understand how legal drugs (alcohol and tobacco) and illegal drugs/narcotics (e.g., cannabis, cocaine, and amphetamine) affect cognition (e.g., decision-making among suspects on how much information to share and when to confess or deny) and memory (e.g., victims' and witnesses' episodic long-term memory of a crime)...
Original languageEnglish
Article number1209406
Number of pages2
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume14
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 May 2023

Keywords

  • alcohol
  • cognition
  • drugs
  • eyewitnesses
  • memory
  • psychology
  • suspects
  • victims

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