watch the video below describing the "weapon focus effect" and providing an overview of some research demonstrating how the presence of a weapon influences witness memory for the perpetrator. After watching this video, you should then complete a response to the discussion prompt.

video:

https://uw.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1edd9c46-3e81-49af-bf08-b0290154d609&start=0

Now that you know the "weapon focus effect", I'd like you to begin discussing WHY you believe this effect occurs. Specifically, I'm interested in how this effect might be related to the concept of selective attention (our ability to "ignore" information that we don't want to focus on) and when we are likely to notice OR NOT notice a new object entering our visual field (i.e., when are we going to demonstrate "blindness").

For your first post, I'd like you to generate your OWN ideas that could explain why individuals focus their attention on a weapon when viewing a crime committed by an armed perpetrator. I know a common explanation is that people focus on the weapon because they're afraid of it - which is intuitive - but I want you to think beyond that and start to evaluate how attentional processes related to "blindness" (or in this case, NOT being blind) might explain this. For this discussion, you will not be able to view any other posts until you post your own, so I really want you to think carefully about how attentional processes might explain the weapon focus effect.