Emotion and eyewitness memory: a process-oriented framework for emotional and retrieval dynamics

Research on emotional influences on eyewitness memory has produced inconsistent findings, with emotion reported to both impair and selectively enhance memory. This PRISMA-guided systematic review synthesises findings from experimental, immersive and field-based studies to examine factors that may contribute to these differing outcomes. Across studies, emotional effects on eyewitness memory varied according to appraisal processes, physiological activation, retrieval demands, stressor timing and methodological characteristics across paradigms. Findings also suggested that retrieval-related emotional and cognitive demands may influence recall organisation and narrative coherence, particularly under stressful interview conditions. Variability across studies was further associated with differences in task structure, ecological validity and the memory outcomes assessed.To organise these findings, we propose the Dual-Layer Emotion Integration Framework (DEIF), which examines how appraisal, physiological activation, regulation and emotional expression may interact across encoding and retrieval phases of memory. Within this framework, similar levels of emotional activation may be associated with different eyewitness outcomes depending on contextual and retrieval-related factors. The review also suggests that emotional expression alone provides limited information regarding memory accuracy because observable demeanour may be shaped by contextual, cultural, interpersonal and regulatory influences in addition to memory-related processes.