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Abstract
Eyewitness memory is a key issue in Forensic Psychology. This research aims to analyze the role of three variables in the memory of a criminal act: arousal (or psychophysiological activation), delay (time elapsed between the experience of the crime and its recovery) and the way of asking about the particular event. It also seeks to study the influence of cultural variables in memory. For this study, two samples were created: a 20 Spanish individuals sample aged between 20-25 years old and a 20 American individuals sample aged between 18-25 years old. All of them watched a scene of a robbery. The results indicated that, under the condition of the long delay and the questions that suggest the answer, the memory of the scene was deteriorated. Furthermore, significant differences between both samples were found; the Spanish-sample showed better memories than American one. It is suggested that three cultural factors may be behind these results: familiarity with such events in the U.S.A, a Spanish collectivist culture that makes the individuals more attentive around themselves, or an American educational system in which forgetting is not penalized and students are trained to recognize rather than recall. The results may have implications in the forensic field and lead to the proposals of the previous literature: avoid long delays and questions that induce the responses in order to contribute to the accuracy and reliability of memory. It is important to delve into the study of cultural variables that influence the memory.
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