Angelica Hagsand

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology

Telephone

+46 31-786 19 35

Mail

angelica.hagsand@psy.gu.se

Visiting address

Haraldsgatan 1

41314 Göteborg

Postal address

Box 500

40530 Göteborg

About Angelica Hagsand

Biography

Angelica V. Hagsand defended her doctoral dissertation in 2014 at the Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, on the topic of how alcohol affects witnesses' memory. After her PhD, Hagsand received a three-year postdoctoral grant from the Swedish Research Council, spending one year at the University of Gothenburg and two years abroad at the Department of Psychology, Florida International University, USA. She later returned to the University of Gothenburg, where she worked as the lead researcher on a project funded by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. In addition to this, Hagsand has been involved in several international collaborations on various projects, including with American colleagues who secured funding from the National Science Foundation in the U.S.

In 2022, Hagsand became Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg.

Current research

Hagsand's ongoing research is interdisciplinary and spans multiple fields, including cognitive psychology, addiction psychology, biological/neuropsychology, legal psychology, social psychology, and personality psychology. More specifically, the research aims to study:

The acute effects of alcohol intoxication on the brain (especially cognition and memory) in witnesses, victims, and suspects
The long-term effects of alcohol abuse/addiction on the brain and its consequences for witnesses, victims, and suspects
The methods used by police and other legal practitioners when conducting interviews with intoxicated witnesses, victims, and suspects

The ongoing research involves numerous international collaborations, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Hagsand is also an Associate Editor of the international scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Research funding agencies:

Research findings in media

Research Outreach: Eyewitness testimony: How much alcohol is too much? (November, 2021)

Research groups and networks

Addiction Psychology: Experimental and Clinical research (APEC), Department of Psychology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Integrative Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (ICON), Department of Psychology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Investigative Interviewing Lab (I-Lab), Department of Psychology, Florida International University, USA
Center for Education and Research on Addiction (CERA), University of Gothenburg, Sweden
The Swedish Society for Alcohol- and Drug research
Broad Research Alliance in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, West Sweden (BRAINWEST)

Teaching

Angelica Hagsand teaches at both undergraduate and advanced levels in various fields, including addiction psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, legal psychology, personality psychology, and social psychology.

She also supervises theses at different academic levels, including bachelor's theses, master's theses, and clinical psychologist degree theses.

Selected publications

Hagsand, A.V., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2025). The big five traits openness and conscientiousness affect the memory of alcohol-intoxicated eyewitnesses. Journal of Memory and Language, 140, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2024.104579

Evans, J.R., Mindthoff, A., LaBat, D., Sparacino, M., Schreiber Compo, N., Polanco, K., & Hagsand. A.V. (2025). The impact of alcohol intoxication and short-sighted decision-making in the interrogation room. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 14, 62-73. https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000173

Hagsand, A. V., Flowe, H., Takarangi, M., & Gawrylowicz, J. (2023). Editorial: The impact of alcohol and drugs on suspects', victims' and witnesses' cognition and memory. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1209406

Hagsand, A.V., Kelly, C., Mindthoff, A., Evans, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., Karhu, J., & Huntley, R. (2023). The interrogator-suspect dynamic in custodial interrogations in Sweden: An application of the interrogation taxonomy framework. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 64, 352-367. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12889

Hagsand, A.V., Zajac, H., Lidell, L., Kelly, C.E., Schreiber Compo, N., & Evans, J. R. (2022). Police- suspect interactions and confession rates are affected by suspects’ alcohol and drug use status in low-stakes crime interrogations. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 983362. https://doi.org.10.3389/fpsyg.2022.983362

Hagsand, A.V., Evans, J. R., Pettersson, D., & Schreiber Compo, N. S. (2022). A survey of police officers encounters with sober, alcohol- and drug-intoxicated suspects in Sweden. Psychology, Crime and Law, 28, 523-544. https://doi.org/10.1080/1068316X.2021.1929978

Hagsand, A. V. (2022). Researching police behaviour and perceptions using online survey methodology: On suspects of crimes. SAGE Research Methods Cases. SAGE Ltd. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529601763

Pettersson, D., Bergquist, M., & Hagsand, A.V. (2022). Police decision-making in the absence of evidence-based guidelines: Assessment on alcohol-intoxicated eyewitnesses. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.761956

Hagsand, A.V., Pettersson, D., Evans, J. R., & Schreiber Compo, N. (2022). Police survey: Procedures and prevalence of intoxicated witnesses and victims in Sweden. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context, 14, 11-21. https://doi.org/10.5093/ejpalc2022a3

Hagsand, A.V. (2021). Eyewitness testimony: How much alcohol is too much? Research Outreach, 126. https://doi.org/10.32907/RO-126-1847382832

Mindthoff, A., Evans, J. R., Schreiber Compo, N., Polanco, K., & Hagsand, A. V. (2021). No evidence that low levels of intoxication at both encoding and retrieval impact scores on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale. Psychopharmacology, 238, 1633-1644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-021-05797-9

Mindthoff, A., Hagsand, A.V., Schreiber Compo, N., & Evans, J. (2019). Does alcohol loosen the tongue? Intoxicated persons' willingness to report transgressions or criminal behavior carried out by themselves or others. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33, 414-425. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3480

Altman, C., Schreiber Compo, N., Hagsand, A. V., & Evans, J. R. (2019). State of intoxication: A review of the effects of alcohol on witnesses’ memory. In J. Dickinson, N. Schreiber Compo, R. N., Carol, M. McCauley & B. Schwartz (Eds.). Evidence-based investigative interviewing. Routledge, NY. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315160276-5

Schreiber Compo, N., Vallano, J., Rivard, J., Hagsand, A. V., Pena, M., & Altman, C. (2019). Methods of studying eyewitness memory. In Otani, H., & Schwartz, B. L. (Eds.), Research Methods in Human Memory. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429439957-15

Altman, C., Schreiber Compo, N., McQuiston, D., Hagsand, A.V, & Cervera, J. (2018). Witnesses’ memory for events and faces under elevated levels of intoxication. Memory, 26, 946-959. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2018.1445758

Hagsand, A. V. (2018). Experimental design in the laboratory: How to measure the difference between alcohol-intoxicated and sober witnesses’ memories of a crime. In SAGE Research Methods Cases. SAGE Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526440891

Dahlgren*, A., Wargelius, H.L., Berglund, K., Fahlke, C., Blennow, K., Zetterberg, H., Oreland, L., Berggren, U., & Balldin, J. (2011). Do alcohol-dependent individuals with DRD2 A1 allele have an increased risk of relapse? A pilot study. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 46, 509-51. https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agr045 *Hagsand's previous surname was Dahlgren.