Editing Weapon focus (section)

{{Short description|Psychological phenomenon}}
{{distinguish|Weapons effect}}
[[File:Weapon focus example.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|A person carrying an expected object for a particular context (a tennis racquet on a tennis court, left) leads to no particular focus of attention from the viewer. A person carrying an unexpected and threatening object (a hatchet, right) leads the viewer to focus more on that object.]]
{{Psychology sidebar}}
'''Weapon focus''' is the concentration on a [[weapon]] by a witness of a crime and the subsequent inability to accurately remember other details of the crime.<ref name=":1" />  Weapon focus is a factor that heavily affects the reliability of [[Eyewitness Identification|eyewitness testimony]].  This effect involves a witness to a crime diverting his or her attention to the weapon the perpetrator is holding, thus causing [[memory]] impairments and leaving less [[attention]] for other details in the scene, such as the attacker’s face, clothing or vehicle.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Steblay|first=Nancy Mehrkens|title=A meta-analytic review of the weapon focus effect.|journal=Law and Human Behavior|year=1992|volume=16 | issue = 4|pages=413–424|url=http://web.augsburg.edu/~steblay/weaponfocusmetaanalysis.pdf|doi=10.1007/bf02352267|s2cid=145375422 }}</ref>

Several studies support the notion of weapon focus, particularly in terms of greater attention paid to the weapon and its effects on recognition and recall.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Adult Eyewitness Testimony: Current Trends and Developments|last1=Ross|first1=David Frank|last2=Read|first2=J. Don|last3=Toglia|first3=Michael|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|isbn=0521432553|location=Cambridge|pages=155}}</ref> [[Elizabeth Loftus]], Yuille and Burns have all been associated with studies showing the existence of a weapon focus effect.