Abstract
I examined why mistaken identifications increase when either witnessing or testing conditions get worse. In Experiment 1 (N = 633), participants watched either a clear or degraded version of a simulated crime. In Experiment 2 (N = 1266), all participants watched the same version of the crime, but were then randomly assigned to either a clear or noise-degraded lineup. After indicating which lineup member best matched their memory for the culprit, participants indicated how well that lineup member matched their memory for the culprit. Degraded conditions led to fewer culprit identifications from present lineups and more mistaken identifications from absent lineups. Degrading witnessing/testing conditions resulted in lower memory ratings for the culprit, but memory ratings for the best-matching innocent person were statistically equivalent under clear and degraded conditions. These results suggest that the reason mistaken identifications increase when witnessing/testing conditions get worse is because witnesses lower their criterion for making an affirmative identification.
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