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Meyer M, Colloff MF, Bennett TC, Hirata E, Kohl A, Stevens LM, Smith HMJ, Staudigl T, Flowe HD. Enabling witnesses to actively explore faces and reinstate study-test pose during a lineup increases discriminability. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2301845120. [PMID: 37782811 PMCID: PMC10576112 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301845120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Accurate witness identification is a cornerstone of police inquiries and national security investigations. However, witnesses can make errors. We experimentally tested whether an interactive lineup, a recently introduced procedure that enables witnesses to dynamically view and explore faces from different angles, improves the rate at which witnesses identify guilty over innocent suspects compared to procedures traditionally used by law enforcement. Participants encoded 12 target faces, either from the front or in profile view, and then attempted to identify the targets from 12 lineups, half of which were target present and the other half target absent. Participants were randomly assigned to a lineup condition: simultaneous interactive, simultaneous photo, or sequential video. In the front-encoding and profile-encoding conditions, Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis indicated that discriminability was higher in interactive compared to both photo and video lineups, demonstrating the benefit of actively exploring the lineup members' faces. Signal-detection modeling suggested interactive lineups increase discriminability because they afford the witness the opportunity to view more diagnostic features such that the nondiagnostic features play a proportionally lesser role. These findings suggest that eyewitness errors can be reduced using interactive lineups because they create retrieval conditions that enable witnesses to actively explore faces and more effectively sample features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marlene Meyer
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
- Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich80333, Germany
| | - Melissa F. Colloff
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
| | - Tia C. Bennett
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
| | - Edward Hirata
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
- School of Psychology, University of Bath, North East Somerset, South WestBA2 7AY, United Kingdom
| | - Amelia Kohl
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
| | - Laura M. Stevens
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
| | - Harriet M. J. Smith
- School of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, NottinghamNG1 4FQ, United Kingdom
| | - Tobias Staudigl
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich80539, Germany
| | - Heather D. Flowe
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, EdgbastonB15 2TT, United Kingdom
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Calderwood L, Ballantyne C, Slee K. The role of experimenter familiarity in children's eyewitness identification. PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND LAW : AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION OF PSYCHIATRY, PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW 2023; 31:147-160. [PMID: 38628252 PMCID: PMC11018025 DOI: 10.1080/13218719.2023.2175071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Child eyewitnesses show a high false identification rate on target-absent (TA) lineups despite good performance on target-present (TP) lineups. One explanation is that children feel a social pressure to choose when presented with a TA lineup. We investigated whether experimenter familiarity would reduce social pressure and improve accuracy on TA lineups. Children (5-7 years, N = 120) watched a short video of a staged theft; 1-2 days later they completed a TP or TA lineup with a familiar or unfamiliar experimenter. Experimenter familiarity had an impact on lineup response in TA lineups only, with more correct 'not there' and fewer 'not sure' responses when the children were familiar with the experimenter. The results provide further evidence to support the social aspect of eyewitness identification decisions in children and provide a possible strategy to improve identification accuracy for those working with children in the criminal justice system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lesley Calderwood
- Division of Psychology, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK
| | - Carrie Ballantyne
- Division of Psychology, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK
| | - Kimberley Slee
- Division of Psychology, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK
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Colloff MF, Seale-Carlisle TM, Karoğlu N, Rockey JC, Smith HMJ, Smith L, Maltby J, Yaremenko S, Flowe HD. Perpetrator pose reinstatement during a lineup test increases discrimination accuracy. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13830. [PMID: 34244529 PMCID: PMC8271008 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92509-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined how encoding view influences the information that is stored in and retrieved from memory during an eyewitness identification task. Participants watched a mock crime and we varied the angle from which they viewed the perpetrator. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 2904) were tested with a static photo lineup; the viewing angle of the lineup members was the same or different from the perpetrator at encoding. In Experiment 2, participants (N = 1430) were tested with a novel interactive lineup in which they could rotate the lineup faces into any angle. In both experiments, discrimination accuracy was greater when the viewing angle at encoding and test matched. Participants reinstated the angle of the interactive faces to match their encoding angle. Our results highlight the importance of encoding specificity for eyewitness identification, and show that people actively seek out information in the testing environment that matches the study environment to aid memory retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa F Colloff
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Travis M Seale-Carlisle
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, UK
- School of Law, Wilson Center for Science and Justice, Duke University, Durham, USA
| | - Nilda Karoğlu
- School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
| | - James C Rockey
- Department of Economics, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, UK
| | - Harriet M J Smith
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
| | - Lisa Smith
- School of Criminology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - John Maltby
- School of Psychology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Sergii Yaremenko
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, UK
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Heather D Flowe
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, UK.
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Rossmo DK. Delivering more information to and from lineup witnesses: Commentary on Brewer and Doyle. JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN MEMORY AND COGNITION 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2021.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Rubínová E, Fitzgerald RJ, Juncu S, Ribbers E, Hope L, Sauer JD. Live presentation for eyewitness identification is not superior to photo or video presentation. JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN MEMORY AND COGNITION 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Commane C, Kopelman MD. Memory: what we think the psychiatrist should know in a forensic context. BJPSYCH ADVANCES 2021. [DOI: 10.1192/bja.2020.89] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARYThis article offers a selective review of memory and of issues relevant for a psychiatrist thinking about memory in a forensic context. It considers the development of our knowledge of memory, some of the ways in which memory can be erroneous and some evidence that this fallibility may sometimes be overstated. It concludes with a section on good practice in psychiatric assessment and in medico-legal work, looking at memory assessment, malingering/exaggeration and guidance for expert witnesses.
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Eyewitness identifications after witnessing threatening and non-threatening scenes in 360-degree virtual reality (or 2D) from first and third person perspectives. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0238292. [PMID: 32877440 PMCID: PMC7467270 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2019] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In eyewitness research the frequent use of video playback presented on a computer screen (i.e., 2D videos) in laboratory-based research is problematic due to the low realism of this method when presenting, for example, threatening (and non-threatening) first-person (and third-person) scenarios. However, in contrast to 2D videos, 360-degree videos presented in virtual reality (VR) presents the opportunity of achieving more realistic and immersive scenarios that might be better suited to mimic real-life incidents, as for example, in the case of a threatening first-person robbery. In the present study, we asked 37 participants to watch eight pre-recorded threatening or non-threatening 2D and VR videos, viewed from either a first- or third-person perspective. After each video, participants assessed the observed target’s appearance and were then presented with either a target present (TP) or target absent (TA) six-person photograph line-up. We expected that VR would result in higher degrees of accuracy in both TP and TA line-ups compared with 2D and that the differences between manipulations would be more pronounced within VR compared with 2D. We found that TP (but not TA) accuracy was higher in 2D compared with VR videos (91 vs. 66%), that there was no main effect of perspective, and that threatening scenes increased TP (but not TA) accuracy compared to non-threatening scenes (86 vs. 70%). Furthermore, in VR (but not in 2D), threatening scenes increased TP (but not TA) accuracy compared with non-threatening scenes (85 vs. 40%). The results go against the expected increased accuracy in VR (vs. 2D) videos but support the notion that threatening (vs. non-threatening) scenes can increase identification accuracy in VR but not necessarily in 2D.
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Ritchie KL, Mireku MO, Kramer RSS. Face averages and multiple images in a live matching task. Br J Psychol 2019; 111:92-102. [PMID: 30945267 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Revised: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
We know from previous research that unfamiliar face matching (determining whether two simultaneously presented images show the same person or not) is very error-prone. A small number of studies in laboratory settings have shown that the use of multiple images or a face average, rather than a single image, can improve face matching performance. Here, we tested 1,999 participants using four-image arrays and face averages in two separate live matching tasks. Matching a single image to a live person resulted in numerous errors (79.9% accuracy across both experiments), and neither multiple images (82.4% accuracy) nor face averages (76.9% accuracy) improved performance. These results are important when considering possible alterations which could be made to photo-ID. Although multiple images and face averages have produced measurable improvements in performance in recent laboratory studies, they do not produce benefits in a real-world live face matching context.
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Nayak BP, Khajuria H. Eyewitness testimony: probative value in criminal justice system. EGYPTIAN JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.1186/s41935-018-0109-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
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