Implications For Eyewitness Testimony Research Articles

Face Recognition Under Adverse Viewing Conditions: Implications for Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony forms an important component in deciding whether a case can be prosecuted. Yet, many criminal perpetrators deliberately conceal their faces with disguises or under dim lighting, undermining eyewitness accuracy. This article reviews recent studies to characterize the factors that impair face recognition performance, specifically, various forms of face disguise (e.g., face masks, sunglasses) and different lighting conditions. Research shows that identification accuracy, alongside eyewitness confidence and decision bias, all affect the reliability of eyewitness accounts. A consistent finding across studies is that face-identification accuracy can be improved by matching the viewing conditions during the police lineup with those during the crime (e.g., showing masked faces during the lineup should the perpetrator be masked). Current face recognition research provides specific recommendations for optimizing the procedures in eyewitness testimony.

文脈情報の想起および言語化が顔の記憶の正確さと確信度の関係に及ぼす影響

We investigated how retrieval conditions affect accuracy-confidence (A-C) relationship sin recognition memory for faces. Seventy participants took a face-recognition test and rated their confidence in their judgment. Twenty-three participants were assigned to a retrieval condition, where they were encouraged to remember background information (scenery) of each picture just before rating their confidence. Twenty-four participants were assigned to a verbalizing condition, in which they were encouraged to remember and verbally describe the background of each picture before rating. Twenty-three participants were assigned to a control condition. The results showed that for the control condition, an A-C relationship was found for old items but not for new items, replicating the results of Takahashi (1998) and Wagenaar (1988). In contrast, in the retrieval condition, an A-C relationship was found for both old and new items. In the verbalizing condition, an A-C relationship was not found for either old or new items. The results showed that retrieving background information affects A-C relationships, supporting the idea that confidence ratings rely not only on memory traces but also on various kinds of information such as retrieved background scenery. Implications for eyewitness testimony were discussed.

Another look at retroactive and proactive interference: A quantitative analysis of conversion processes

Traditionally, the causes of interference phenomena were sought in “real” or “hard” memory processes such as unlearning, response competition, or inhibition, which serve to reduce the accessibility of target items. I propose an alternative approach which does not deny the influence of such processes but highlights a second, equally important, source of interference—the conversion (Tulving, 1983) of accessible memory information into memory performance. Conversion is conceived as a problem-solving-like activity in which the rememberer tries to find solutions to a memory task. Conversion-based interference effects are traced to different conversion processes in the experimental and control conditions of interference designs. I present a simple theoretical model that quantitatively predicts the resulting amount of interference. In two paired-associate learning experiments using two different types of memory tests, these predictions were corroborated. Relations of the present approach to traditional accounts of interference phenomena and implications for eyewitness testimony are discussed.

An own gender bias and the importance of hair in face recognition

There is a large literature on the own race bias, the finding that people are better at recognizing faces of people from their own race. Here an own gender bias is shown: Males are better at identifying male faces than female faces and females are better at identifying female faces than male faces. Encoding a person’s hair is shown to account for approximately half of the own gender bias when measured using hit and false alarm rates. Remember/know judgements and confidence measures are taken. Encoding a person’s hair is critical for having a “remember” recollective experience. Parallels with the own race bias and implications for eyewitness testimony are discussed.

Five years later: children's memory for medical emergencies

AbstractChildren who had been 2–13 years of age at the time of a medical emergency (an injury serious enough to require hospital ER treatment) were re‐interviewed about their injury and treatment five years after injury, and three years after a previous interview. The children showed excellent recall of the central components of their injury experience, although their recall of hospital treatment was more incomplete. Thus, both the nature of the event being recalled (the injury versus the hospital treatment) and the centrality of information (central versus peripheral) were important. The recall of 2‐year‐olds, although not as good as that of children just a year older, did not fit with predictions of infantile amnesia since they recalled a considerable amount about their injury. High stress levels at the time of the target experiences had little effect on the highly memorable injury event, but seemed to facilitate children's recall of central components of the hospital event—the event that they had a harder time remembering. Implications for eyewitness testimony are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Memory for central and peripheral actions and props after varied post‐event presentation

Purpose. The effects of varying post‐event information (information was unchanged from the original event, misleading or added an incorrect detail) on memory for central and peripheral actions and props in a crime scene were examined.Methods. After pre‐testing 105 undergraduates to obtain centrality ratings for target items (actions and props), 300 additional undergraduates were presented with slides of a crime followed by a narrative in which one target item was unchanged from the original presentation, one was changed (misleading), and one had an incorrect detail added. Participants were tested using one of four memory tests: item recognition, source recognition, cued recall or sentence completion (an indirect memory test).Results. Misinformation effects were found for all four dependent measures. People were more resistant to misleading central than peripheral information, and readily accepted incorrect added details in recognition tests, but rarely generated them in recall or sentence completion.Conclusions. Two major conclusions can be drawn. Peripheral items are more strongly influenced by misleading information than are central items, and those who provide a free account of what they witness are unlikely to include details, but may accept incorrect details when questioned. Implications for eyewitness testimony and future research in eyewitness memory are discussed.

Memory quality and misinformation for peripheral and central objects

Purpose. The quality of memories after the presentation of misinformation was explored. Three different types of stimuli were used: a peripheral object, a characteristic of a (different) peripheral object and a central detail. These were chosen in order to achieve different levels of the misinformation effect.Methods. One hundred and eight university students were shown a computer displayed picture sequence of a shoplifting incident. They were then misled about certain aspects. Memory was assessed by forced‐choice recognition, ‘remember’/‘know’ judgments and reaction times.Results. Participants often reported ‘remembering’ misinformation for the peripheral object and the characteristic. ‘Remember’ responses were also associated with the fastest reaction times.Conclusions. Misinformation can make people remember errant information. Implications for eyewitness testimony are discussed.