Crime blindness: The impact of inattentional blindness on eyewitness awareness, memory, and identification

People do not constantly watch for accidents and crimes. With their attention focused elsewhere, potential witnesses may fail to notice a crime and experience inattentional blindness. We investigated the impact of inattentional blindness on eye-witness awareness and memory. Participants watched a video in which a theft occurs. We manipulated the attentional focus of the participants-some watched for the crime, others simply watched the video, and some counted the number of people wearing white shirts. Participants counting white shirts and those simply watching more often experienced inattentional blindness for the crime and failed to identify the culprit than those watching for the theft. Participants, particularly those watching for the theft, often falsely identified an innocent bystander, displaying a potential unconscious transference effect. Attention plays a critical role in eyewitness awareness and memory. Eyewitness researchers should investigate situations in which people are not explicitly watching for a crime or accident.