Memories for traumatic events are fundamentally different from typical memories. Individuals who witness or are involved in an extremely stressful event, such as a robbery or a violent act, retain highly accurate memories for the information directly related to the trauma (e.g., a gun or verbal threat), while surrounding details are poorly remembered. This so-called weapon focus phenomenon has been found in both naturalistic and laboratory studies with humans. However, difficulties with the control of naturalistic studies and approximating trauma in the lab limit the validity of these findings.