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Evidence of differential performance on simultaneous and sequential lineups for individuals with autism-spectrum traits

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Given the impaired facial recognition of autistic individuals, we examined whether certain autism-spectrum traits affected eyewitness identification performance in a general adult population. In a sample of 120 individuals, levels of autism-spectrum traits were examined in relation to performance on simultaneous vs. sequential lineups using a signal detection paradigm. For simultaneous lineups, total Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores and scores on the excessive Attention to detail subscale were related to fewer hits and a more conservative response criterion. Attention to detail interacted with lineup type in that it was significantly related to improved discrimination accuracy and a less conservative response criterion in sequential lineups, but with impaired discrimination accuracy and a more conservative response criterion in simultaneous lineups. Higher AQ scores on the Attention switching subscale resulted in fewer hits, lower discrimination accuracy, and a more conservative response criterion with sequential lineups. Additionally, partial disguises led to more false alarms but not decreased accuracy. More thorough investigations of the effect of lineup type on identifications are needed before policy changes are recommended.
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Short Communication
Evidence of differential performance on simultaneous and sequential lineups
for individuals with autism-spectrum traits
Rachell L. Jones
, Matthew H. Scullin, Christian A. Meissner
University of Texas, El Paso, TX 79968, United States
article info
Article history:
Received 31 January 2011
Received in revised form 11 April 2011
Accepted 18 April 2011
Available online 19 May 2011
Keywords:
Eyewitness identification
Simultaneous lineups
Sequential lineups
Signal detection theory
Autism
abstract
Given the impaired facial recognition of autistic individuals, we examined whether certain autism-spec-
trum traits affected eyewitness identification performance in a general adult population. In a sample of
120 individuals, levels of autism-spectrum traits were examined in relation to performance on simulta-
neous vs. sequential lineups using a signal detection paradigm. For simultaneous lineups, total Autism
Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores and scores on the excessive Attention to detail subscale were related to
fewer hits and a more conservative response criterion. Attention to detail interacted with lineup type
in that it was significantly related to improved discrimination accuracy and a less conservative response
criterion in sequential lineups, but with impaired discrimination accuracy and a more conservative
response criterion in simultaneous lineups. Higher AQ scores on the Attention switching subscale
resulted in fewer hits, lower discrimination accuracy, and a more conservative response criterion with
sequential lineups. Additionally, partial disguises led to more false alarms but not decreased accuracy.
More thorough investigations of the effect of lineup type on identifications are needed before policy
changes are recommended.
Ó2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Individuals with autism have impaired facial recognition abilities
(Sasson, 2006), and researchers are beginning to examine autism-
spectrum characteristics in the general population (Baron-Cohen,
Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001). We examined
whether such autism-spectrum traits such as difficulty shifting
focus or excessive attention to detail were differentially related to
impaired performance on an eyewitness identification task depend-
ing upon whether photos in a lineup were presented simultaneously
or sequentially. Additionally, we examined whether a partial dis-
guise makes lineup identification performance harder, consistent
with previous findings (Meissner & Brigham, 2001).
1.1. Simultaneous vs. sequential lineups
Police agencies often use either simultaneous or sequential line-
ups for eyewitness identifications. Simultaneous lineups present all
photos to a witness at the same time, usually requiring the witness
to pick the perpetrator from amongst five foils. Sequential lineups
generally present one photo at a time to a witness who is asked
to make a yes or no decision on whether or not the perpetrator is
present before moving onto the remaining photos. Some research-
ers have suggested using sequential lineups exclusively because
simultaneous lineups lead to more false alarms (FA) in target absent
(TA) conditions (Levi & Lindsay, 2001; Lindsay & Wells, 1985).
Theoretically, sequential and simultaneous lineups have been
linked to different ways of making identification judgments. The
increase in FA with TA simultaneous lineups may occur because
witnesses rely on relative judgments when deciding if a perpetrator
is present (Lindsay & Wells, 1985). Witnesses compare the photos
in a 6-person array and determine which one is most similar to the
image in their memory relative to the others. Researchers support-
ing the sequential advantage further suggest that sequential line-
ups prevent eyewitnesses from making relative judgments,
instead encouraging absolute judgments, in which they compare
their actual memory to each lineup member (Lindsay & Wells,
1985).
Sequential lineups should theoretically reduce FA and increase
correct rejections for TA lineups (Lindsay & Wells, 1985). However,
this finding has not always been supported, and sequential lineups
result in decreased correct identifications in target present (TP)
lineups as well (Steblay, Dysart, Fulero, & Lindsay, 2001). As an
alternative theoretical explanation, Meissner, Tredoux, Parker,
and MacLin (2005) suggest sequential lineups may encourage wit-
nesses to adopt a more conservative response criterion in which
they do not choose as much overall.
0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.013
Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychology, 500 West Univer-
sity Ave., University of Texas, El Paso, TX 79968, United States. Tel.: +1 915 747
8802; fax: +1 915 747 6553.
E-mail address: rlbarker@miners.utep.edu (R.L. Jones).
Personality and Individual Differences 51 (2011) 537–540
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
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1.2. Autism spectrum characteristics and eyewitness performance
A growing body of research suggests that autism is better
conceptualized on a continuum. The Autism Spectrum Quotient
(AQ; Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, & Skinner et al., 2001) examines
the extent to which normal functioning adults exhibit various
qualities known to be present in autistic individuals. Higher scores
on the AQ have been linked to errors in nonverbal sensitivity
(Ingersoll, 2010), enhanced performance on various visuospatial
tasks (Grinter et al., 2009), and poor social sensitivity (Baron-
Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001).
While the facial recognition and processing deficits of autistic
children and adults is well established (Jemel, Mottron, & Dawson,
2006; Sasson, 2006), these qualities have not been assessed in nor-
mal-functioning individuals exhibiting autism-spectrum charac-
teristics (which may reflect general cognitive propensities in
addition to autism). Furthermore, the majority of studies examin-
ing the performance of autistic individuals have utilized classic fa-
cial recognition paradigms. The current study examined the facial
recognition abilities of a range of AQ scorers within an eyewitness
identification paradigm.
1.3. Impact of disguises on eyewitness performance
Perpetrators often disguise their appearance during the com-
mission of a crime. Researchers have found that modifications to
a target’s appearance after the initial encoding phase can signifi-
cantly impair performance on later identifications (Shapiro & Pen-
rod, 1986). Shepherd, Davies, and Ellis (1978) demonstrated that
certain features were more important for accurate identifications.
In particular, a person’s hair and eyes tend to be more useful,
and disguises that alter these features can impair identifications
(Shapiro & Penrod, 1986). While most studies have revealed the
deleterious effects of disguises, others have found no impairment
(reviewed in Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006).
1.4. The present study
The effect of lineup type (simultaneous or sequential), disguise
(present or absent), and the level of autism-spectrum traits in nor-
mal functioning adults was examined using a signal detection the-
ory (SDT) paradigm. The SDT approach was recommended by
Ebbesen and Flowe (2002) and utilized by Meissner et al. (2005)
in order to disentangle the decision-making processes that
researchers have suggested result in the disparate outcomes for
sequential and simultaneous lineups.
Consistent with previous research, we expected no differences
in accuracy across lineup type, and a conservative response crite-
rion with sequential lineups. The presence of a disguise was ex-
pected to impair participants’ abilities to identify a perpetrator.
Lastly, because of the clear deficits in facial recognition abilities
of autistic individuals, normal functioning adults with higher autis-
tic traits were expected to show decreased performance as well.
2. Method
2.1. Procedure
Participants consisted of 120 Hispanic psychology students
from the University of Texas at El Paso (78 females, 42 males;
age range = 17–45, mean age = 21.46, SD = 5.76 years). The major-
ity of participants were recruited from the psychology pool in
which students participate for course credit.
2.2. Assessment of eyewitness accuracy and autism characteristics
2.2.1. Simultaneous and sequential lineups
Participants viewed 8 videos of male targets (4 Hispanic, 4 Non-
Hispanic White, mean age = 21.10) either wearing sunglasses or
not while walking down a flight of stairs. Participants then com-
pleted the AQ and, if necessary, number puzzle searches to provide
a consistent 5-min delay. Next, participants randomly received
either a series of 16 simultaneous or 16 sequential lineups, with
equal numbers of TP and TA lineups in random order. For each line-
up, participants were told the perpetrator may or may not be pres-
ent, asked to identify the target if present (Sequential = choose yes,
no, or unsure; Simultaneous = choose corresponding number, not
present, or unsure), and asked how confident they were in their
decisions on a scale of 0 (not at all confident) to 100% (totally con-
fident). After viewing all lineups, participants answered basic
demographic questions and were debriefed.
2.2.2. Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ)
The AQ (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, & Skinner et al., 2001)
consists of 50 questions, including five 10-item subscales that as-
sess poor Social skills, poor Attention switching, exceptional
Attention to detail, poor Communication skills, and a poor Imag-
ination, with higher numbers indicating more autistic traits.
Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficients of the subscales range from 0.63
to 0.77, and overall test–retest reliability is satisfactory (r= 0.7;
Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, & Skinner et al., 2001).
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive statistics
The means and standard deviations of the AQ are presented in
Table 1. No cross race effect emerged, so all data were collapsed
across target ethnic groups. Participant identification performance
means are found in Table 2. SDT measures of hits and FA allowed
for estimates of discrimination accuracy (A
Z
; higher numbers re-
flect a better ability to detect a perpetrator and correctly reject a
Table 1
Descriptive statistics of the autism spectrum quotient.
Measure MSD
Total Autism-Spectrum Quotient
a
17.69 4.47
Social Skill
b
2.07 1.70
Attention Switching
b
4.72 1.83
Attention to Detail
b
5.79 1.97
Communication Skill
b
2.45 1.61
Imagination
b
2.67 1.64
Note: N = 120.
a
Range of 0 to 50.
b
Range of 0 to 10.
Table 2
Identification performance across lineup type and disguise.
Condition False Discrimination Response
Hits Alarms Accuracy (A
Z
) Criterion (B}
D
)
M SD M SD M SD M SD
Lineup
Simultaneous .26 .15 .07 .03 .70 .16 1.15 .31
Sequential .20 .13 .09 .05 .61 .18 1.21 .38
Disguise
Yes .23 .15 .09 .04 .63 .18 1.15 .39
No .23 .13 .07 .04 .67 .17 1.21 .30
Note: N = 120.
538 R.L. Jones et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 51 (2011) 537–540
Author's personal copy
foil), and response criterion (B}
D
; higher numbers indicate a conser-
vative criterion, meaning a reduced overall tendency to make
either accurate or inaccurate choices on lineups) to be calculated.
ANOVAs were conducted to examine the effect of lineup type, dis-
guise, and the AQ on identification performance. For all calcula-
tions, overall FA rates were adjusted by dividing by the number
of photos based on the assumption that any one of the foils in
the TA lineup could be an innocent suspect.
Contrary to what was hypothesized, simultaneous lineups re-
sulted in significantly more hits than sequential lineups, F(1,
118) = 5.43, p= .02; fewer FA, F(1, 118) = 8.40, p< .01; and better
discrimination accuracy, F(1, 118) = 7.49, p< .01. Sequential lineups
did not result in a more conservative response criterion as was ex-
pected, F(1, 118) = 1.13, p= .29. The presence of a disguise resulted
in significantly more FA, F(1, 118) = 6.15, p= .02, but did not signif-
icantly impair discrimination accuracy, F(1, 118) = 1.78, p= .18.
3.2. The association between AQ scales and eyewitness signal detection
measures
The correlations between AQ scales and signal detection mea-
sures are broken down by sequential and simultaneous lineups
in Table 3. For sequential lineups, higher scores on the Attention
switching subscale (meaning difficulty switching attention easily,
or a strong focus of attention) resulted in significantly fewer hits,
lower discrimination accuracy, and a more conservative response
criterion. These correlations were in the same direction for simul-
taneous lineups, but not significant.
For simultaneous lineups, total AQ scores were negatively re-
lated to hits, as well as a more conservative response criterion.
These results seemed to be largely driven by the Attention to de-
tail subscale (meaning an exceptional attention to detail). For
sequential lineups, Attention to detail was positively related to
hit rates and the correlation between Attention to detail and both
discrimination accuracy and response criterion were in the oppo-
site direction of that seen in simultaneous lineups. Table 4 shows
hierarchical regressions on the full sample, revealing a significant
interaction between lineup type and Attention to detail for both
discrimination accuracy and response criterion. Higher scores on
the Attention to detail subscale were related to poorer discrimi-
nation accuracy and a more conservative response criterion in
simultaneous lineups compared to sequential lineups.
4. Discussion
The most intriguing finding of this study was that individuals
with certain autistic traits (but within the normal range) per-
formed better or worse, depending on the type of lineups they
were given. Poor attention switching abilities, coupled with
sequential lineups, resulted in lower discrimination accuracy and
a more conservative response criterion. On the other hand, excep-
tional attention to detail, coupled with sequential lineups, resulted
in greater discrimination accuracy and a less conservative response
criterion. Theoretically, sequential lineups may work to the advan-
tage of people with exceptional attention to detail by requiring
them to focus on one face at a time. For simultaneous lineups,
exceptional attention to detail resulted in lower discrimination
accuracy and a more conservative response criterion. Individuals
with exceptional attention to detail seem to require a stronger
threshold before choosing someone from a simultaneous lineup.
These findings highlight the importance that estimator vari-
ables, such as individual differences in autistic traits in a normal
population, may play in eyewitness identifications. Future research
should further explore the link between scores on the AQ and its
various subscales on eyewitness performance on lineups with
varying degrees of difficulty. If the Attention to detail and Atten-
tion switching subscales are consistently predictive of better per-
formance on a particular lineup type, perhaps in jurisdictions
that utilize both simultaneous and sequential lineups a brief
screening measure could be developed for police to help determine
which lineup type would be more beneficial for a given witness.
Contrary to some previous studies, simultaneous lineups re-
sulted in significantly better discrimination accuracy over sequen-
tial lineups. In addition, while there was a trend toward a
conservative criterion shift in sequential lineups, it was not
significant. Participants found the lineup task to be challenging
(low overall hits) so being able to compare the photos in the
Table 3
Pearson correlation matrix of autism spectrum quotient scores with signal detection measures for simultaneous lineups (above the diagonal) and sequential lineups (below the
diagonal).
12345678910
1. Total autism spectrum quotient (AQ) score .74
**
.74
**
.20 .61
**
.38
**
.33
*
.10 .16 .31
*
2. AQ social skill .64
**
– .44
**
.23 .52
**
.34
**
.13 .05 .05 .07
3. AQ attention switching .57
**
.19 .12 .22 .10 .22 .11 .11 .23
4. AQ attention to detail .26
.20 .09 – .11 .43
**
.33
*
.19 .16 .35
**
5. AQ communication skill .69
**
.47
**
.24 .08 – .13 .12 .08 .08 .15
6. AQ imagination .28
*
.13 .08 .32
*
.11 – .03 .09 .03 .02
7. Overall hits .08 .05 .41
**
.30
*
.05 .06 – .08 .82
**
.85
**
8. Overall false alarms .03 .04 .05 .03 .20 .06 .07 – .47
**
.33
**
9. Overall discrimination accuracy (A
Z
).03 .05 .36
**
.20 .08 .08 .78
**
.46
**
.66
**
10. Overall response criterion (B}
D
) .04 .02 .41
**
.22 .07 .05 .83
**
.50
**
.50
**
Note: N = 60 for each group.
*
p<.05.
**
p<.01.
Table 4
Summary of hierarchical regression analyses predicting discrimination accuracy and
response criterion for eyewitness lineup identification performance.
Discrimination
accuracy (A
Z
)
Response
criterion (B}
D
)
D
R
2
b
D
R
2
b
Step 1 .06
*
.01
Simultaneous lineup = 1 .24
**
.10
Step 2 .01 .00
Simultaneous lineup = 1 .24
**
.10
AQ attention to detail .03 .05
Step 3 .03
*
.07
**
Simultaneous lineup = 1 .77
**
.91
*
AQ attention to detail .23 .25
Simultaneous attention to detail .62
*
.93
*
Total R
2
.10
**
.08
**
Note: N = 120.
*
p< .05.
**
p< .01.
R.L. Jones et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 51 (2011) 537–540 539
Author's personal copy
simultaneous lineups might have improved performance. To rule
this out, future studies should manipulate lineup difficulty. The
presence of a disguise did not affect overall accuracy but did in-
crease FA, suggesting witnesses are more likely to choose a foil
when the perpetrator wore a disguise, even when warned the per-
petrator may or may not be present.
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... However, those scoring higher on the other three AQ subscales selected the innocent suspect less often when presented in sequential lineups: social skills OR = 0.83, X 2 = 5.69, p = 0.02, communication OR = 0.86, X 2 = 4.47, p = .03; and imagination OR = 0.84, X 2 = 6.88, p < .001. Jones et al. (2011) did not find that these subscales were significant predictors of lineup performance. ...
... ld tax one's facial recognition ability more than viewing faces one at a time, resulting in a greater improvement for individuals with a better facial recognition ability when viewing a simultaneous lineup. Additionally, the CMFT and simultaneous lineup both require the selection of a target face among similar foils and therefore are similar tasks. Jones et al. (2011) found that increased scores on the attention to detail subscale of the AQ resulted in improved discrimination in sequential lineups due to an increase in correct IDs; they found the opposite for the simultaneous lineup. Our results partially replicated their findings, as we found that greater attention to detail improved both sequential ...
... To assess the robustness of our findings we need to examine a wider range of participants and materials. Although our study is more ecologically valid than Jones et al. (2011) , our materials employed a mock crime procedure , which is different than the conditions an eyewitness to a live crime would experience. In a live crime, encoding is adversely affected by stress, poor lighting, weapon focus, etc. Overcoming these factors may demand more WMC, thereby making recollection difficult to deploy. ...
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... These three processes reflect a person's ability to maintain task goals and goal-related information. The role of executive function in eyewitness memory has been assessed in the context of children's suggestibility to misinformation (for a review, see Bruck & Melnyk, 2004), as well as the recall and identification performance of individuals on the Autism Spectrum (Jones, Scullin, & Meissner, 2011;Maras, Memon, Lambrechts, & Bowler, 2013). ...
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Conference Paper
Social cognition and executive function are core components of adaptive social behaviour and follow a protracted developmental course. Importantly, deficits in both processes have been hypothesised to play causal role in the social difficulties characterising autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite substantial advances in the field, a number of important gaps have yet to be fully addressed. This thesis set out to empirically examine five outstanding research questions using data drawn from typically developing adults and adolescents, and a sample of adults diagnosed with high-functioning ASD. Findings revealed evidence of age-related improvements in multiple domains of social cognition and executive control between middle adolescence and young adulthood (Chapter 2). Typically developing adults and adolescents with elevated autism symptomatology were found to display a qualitatively similar, though milder pattern of difficulties in facial affect processing, theory of mind, and executive control, and these impairments appeared to be independent of trait alexithymia (Chapter 3). Elevated levels of ASD traits were associated with difficulties in processing social information in the context of executive control, and, once again, these impairments were found to be independent of alexithymia (Chapter 4). Extending these measures to a clinical sample revealed ASD-specific impairments. Findings showed that compared to neurtotypical controls, individuals with ASD were significantly poorer on a referential communication task performed under varying levels of cognitive load, and were less adept in regulating behavioural responses in the presence of affective information. ASD-related deficits were also observed on neutral measures of executive control. However, deficits on these tasks appeared to be less pronounced relative to a dual assessment task examining social and executive processing concurrently (Chapter 5). Finally, autism severity was associated with impaired perspective-taking abilities on a referential communication task. By contrast, no such associations were found between neutral measures of executive control. (Chapter 5) Overall, findings from the current thesis contribute to a deeper understanding of the age-associated changes in social and executive function during the later stages of adolescence, and provide a more comprehensive understanding of ASD-related difficulties in higher-order cognition at the clinical and subclinical level.
... These three processes reflect a person's ability to maintain task goals and goal-related information. The role of executive function in eyewitness memory has been assessed in the context of children's suggestibility to misinformation (for a review, see Bruck & Melnyk, 2004), as well as the recall and identification performance of individuals on the Autism Spectrum (Jones, Scullin, & Meissner, 2011;Maras, Memon, Lambrechts, & Bowler, 2013). ...
Chapter
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Eyewitness memory represents an inherently applied research problem, wherein scholars have increased public awareness of the problem of mistaken eyewitness identification and successfully developed policies and procedures that will increase the diagnostic value of an identification. At the same time, a tension has long existed between those that have urged the field to adopt this applied research focus and those that have advocated for a more theoretically informed research focus. In the current chapter, we offer a process perspective that engages psychological theories of memory, face recognition, social influence and decision processes that have been shown to influence eyewitness identifications. We propose that the eyewitness context affords scholars a 'middle road' to engage in the development and refinement of such theoretical frameworks. Greater attention to such a process perspective, rooted in the rich theoretical backdrops of cognitive and social psychology, is more likely to enhance our understanding of eyewitness decisions and lead to novel insights that leverage core processes.
... In particular, Gökçen et al. (2014Gökçen et al. ( , 2016 found atypical perspective-taking abilities on the animated triangles task (Abell, Happé, & Frith, 2000), in decoding mental states from the eye region at Reading the Mind in the Eyes task ( Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001) and greater difficulties in identifying mental states from dynamic video-based stimuli (Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition -MASC; Dziobek et al., 2006). Indeed, there is growing evidence that the expression of sub-threshold ASD traits may extend into the general population (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Skinner, Martin, & Clubley, 2001;Constantino, 2011;Hoekstra, Bartels, Cath, & Boomsma, 2008;Jones, Scullin, & Meissner, 2011). In particular, previous studies (e.g. ...
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The present study investigated the association between autistic personality traits and cognitive and affective Theory of Mind abilities, as well as whether intentionality attribution was atypical in individuals with autistic personality traits, such as in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, who tend to over-attribute intentions when facing accidental harm involving negative outcomes. One-hundred individuals performed tasks assessing autistic personality traits, Theory of Mind abilities, and provided intentionality judgments to scenarios characterized by side effects, which involved unintended negative outcomes as well. Results showed that autistic personality traits are associated with reduced cognitive and affective Theory of Mind abilities, as well as with increased intentionality attributions towards side effects. Reduced cognitive Theory of Mind ability mediates the relationship between autistic personality traits and over-attribution of intentionality, suggesting that individuals with autistic personality traits base their intentionality evaluations more on side effects than on agent’s intentions, as in autism spectrum disorder.
... 7 There also are individual differences that characterize an eyewitness that might make the police more or less willing to present that witness a lineup. For example, Morgan et al (2007) (see also Jones, Scullin, & Meissner, 2011) showed that eyewitness accuracy was positively correlated with performance on the Weschler Face Test (1997), a simple face recognition test. Bindemann, Brown, Koyas, and Russ (2012) determined that an eyewitness's performance on a face recognition test could postdict their previous identification accuracy from a simultaneous lineup. ...
Chapter
We have known at least since the publication of On the Witness Stand by Hugo Münster-berg (1908) that eyewitness identification can be faulty. DNA exonerations by the Inno-cence Project 1 have made the entire world aware of this problem. A national registry has recently been released that chronicles 1000 wrongful convictions since 1989. 2 Research-ers have studied 873 of these cases in detail. The website indicates that faulty eyewitness identification was a contributing factor in 43 percent of these cases; it played a role in approximately 80 percent of the sexual assault cases. What can we do about this problem? Given the kind of memory system that we have evolved, one ill-equipped to do the job required of an eyewitness, an argument could be made for the elimination of eye-witness evidence from the criminal justice system. Our memory system did not evolve to retain verbatim representations of events and it does not operate like a video recorder, despite what the general public believes (Simons & Chabris, 2011). Despite these shortcomings of memory, are there proce-dures that the criminal justice system can use to collect and evaluate eyewitness evidence that could enhance its accuracy and thereby partially compensate for the memory system we have? An examination of these proce-dures is the focus of this chapter. Wells (1978) introduced a distinction between two classes of variables that affect eyewitness identification: estimator and system variables. Estimator variables, the topic of Chapter 30 in this volume, are varia-bles that influence the accuracy of eyewitness identification but are not under the control of the criminal justice system (for an earlier review, see Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006). They involve factors such as a race mis-match between the victim and the perpetrator (Meissner & Brigham, 2001), the presence of a distinctive feature on the perpetrator's face (Carlson, 2011), and the presence of a weapon (e.g., Carlson & Carlson, 2012; Loftus, Loftus, & Messo, 1987). Extreme stress adversely affects memory (Morgan et al., 2004), as does poor illumination, greater distance, or shorter exposure (Loftus, 2010). To the extent that these factors pro-duce a weak memory representation, the reconstructive nature of memory becomes even more problematic and the accuracy of an eyewitness even more dubious. System variables involve factors that are under the control of the criminal justice system. These variables come into play after the occurrence and initial encoding of an BK-SAGE-PERFECT-LINDSAY-130601-130025-Ch33.indd 595 BK-SAGE-PERFECT-LINDSAY-130601-130025-Ch33.indd 595
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The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of presentation format and instructions on the ability of people with intellectual disability to identify individuals they did not know and had seen only briefly. With this objective in mind, 2 groups of subjects with mild to moderate intellectual disability were shown a photograph of a person and, after a distracting task, were asked to identify that person in 2 line-ups (target-absent and target-present) with 6 photographs each, where 2 types of instructions (neutral vs specific, between-subject design) and 2 presentation formats (simultaneous vs sequential, within-subject design) for the line-up photographs were used. Each subject completed 4 trials. The results showed that, generally speaking, people with intellectual disability were capable of distinguishing the face of a person previously seen under all these conditions. There was a significantly higher incidence of false alarms, however, when the photographs were presented sequentially and when specific instructions were not given. With specific instructions designed to lessen the social desirability effect and increase motivation for the task, false alarms on the target-absent line-up were reduced. The results were discussed with a view to their applicability in legal and law enforcement contexts.
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This article examines the recommended changes to lineup reforms outlined by eyewitness researchers and the impact of these reforms on public policy as reflected in national guidelines for police identification procedures (Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999). The limitations of these reforms are discussed. Alternative "best practices" for social science researchers, as well as for police, are proposed to minimize false-positive lineup selections and, consequently, convictions of innocent persons.
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The current article reviews the own-race bias (ORB) phenomenon in memory for human faces, the finding that own-race faces are better remembered when compared with memory for faces of another, less familiar race. Data were analyzed from 39 research articles, involving 91 independent samples and nearly 5,000 participants. Measures of hit and false alarm rates, and aggregate measures of discrimination accuracy and response criterion were examined, including an analysis of 8 study moderators. Several theoretical relationships were also assessed (i.e., the influence of racial attitudes and interracial contact). Overall, results indicated a "mirror effect" pattern in which own-race faces yielded a higher proportion of hits and a lower proportion of false alarms compared with other-race faces. Consistent with this effect, a significant ORB was also found in aggregate measures of discrimination accuracy and response criterion. The influence of perceptual learning and differentiation processes in the ORB are discussed, in addition to the practical implications of this phenomenon.
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Investigated the effectiveness of sequential lineup presentation as a means of reducing false identifications with little or no loss in accurate identifications. A crime was staged for 240 unsuspecting eyewitnesses (undergraduates) either individually or in pairs. One-fourth of the Ss attempted identifications in each of 4 lineup conditions: 6 pictures were presented either simultaneously, as used in traditional procedures, or sequentially, in which yes/no judgments were made for each picture; each procedure either contained the photograph of the criminal–confederate or a picture of a similar looking replacement. Results indicate that sequential lineup presentation significantly reduced false identifications but did not significantly influence correct identifications when compared with a simultaneous procedure. It is concluded that sequential presentation of lineups can reduce false identifications of innocent suspects by reducing eyewitnesses' reliance on relative-judgment processes. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The criminal justice system relies heavily on eyewitnesses to determine the facts surrounding criminal events. Eyewitnesses may identify culprits, recall conversations, or remember other details. An eyewitness who has no motive to lie is a powerful form of evidence for jurors, especially if the eyewitness appears to be highly confident about his or her recollection. In the absence of definitive proof to the contrary, the eyewitness's account is generally accepted by police, prosecutors, judges, and juries. However, the faith the legal system places in eyewitnesses has been shaken recently by the advent of forensic DNA testing. Given the right set of circumstances, forensic DNA testing can prove that a person who was convicted of a crime is, in fact, innocent. Analyses of DNA exoneration cases since 1992 reveal that mistaken eyewitness identification was involved in the vast majority of these convictions, accounting for more convictions of innocent people than all other factors combined. We review the latest figures on these DNA exonerations and explain why these cases can only be a small fraction of the mistaken identifications that are occurring. Decades before the advent of forensic DNA testing, psychologists were questioning the validity of eyewitness reports. Hugo Münsterberg's writings in the early part of the 20th century made a strong case for the involvement of psychological science in helping the legal system understand the vagaries of eyewitness testimony. But it was not until the mid- to late 1970s that psychologists began to conduct programmatic experiments aimed at understanding the extent of error and the variables that govern error when eyewitnesses give accounts of crimes they have witnessed. Many of the experiments conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s resulted in articles by psychologists that contained strong warnings to the legal system that eyewitness evidence was being overvalued by the justice system in the sense that its impact on triers of fact (e.g., juries) exceeded its probative (legal-proof) value. Another message of the research was that the validity of eyewitness reports depends a great deal on the procedures that are used to obtain those reports and that the legal system was not using the best procedures. Although defense attorneys seized on this nascent research as a tool for the defense, it was largely ignored or ridiculed by prosecutors, judges, and police until the mid 1990s, when forensic DNA testing began to uncover cases of convictions of innocent persons on the basis of mistaken eyewitness accounts. Recently, a number of jurisdictions in the United States have implemented procedural reforms based on psychological research, but psychological science has yet to have its fullest possible influence on how the justice system collects and interprets eyewitness evidence. The psychological processes leading to eyewitness error represent a confluence of memory and social-influence variables that interact in complex ways. These processes lend themselves to study using experimental methods. Psychological science is in a strong position to help the criminal justice system understand eyewitness accounts of criminal events and improve their accuracy. A subset of the variables that affect eyewitness accuracy fall into what researchers call system variables, which are variables that the criminal justice system has control over, such as how eyewitnesses are instructed before they view a lineup and methods of interviewing eyewitnesses. We review a number of system variables and describe how psychological scientists have translated them into procedures that can improve the probative value of eyewitness accounts. We also review estimator variables, variables that affect eyewitness accuracy but over which the system has no control, such as cross-race versus within-race identifications. We describe some concerns regarding external validity and generalization that naturally arise when moving from the laboratory to the real world. These include issues of base rates, multicollinearity, selection effects, subject populations, and psychological realism. For each of these concerns, we briefly note ways in which both theory and field data help make the case for generalization.
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This article examines the recommended changes to lineup reforms outlined by eyewitness researchers and the impact of these reforms on public policy as reflected in national guidelines for police identification procedures (Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence, 1999). The limitations of these reforms are discussed. Alternative "best practices" for social science researchers, as well as for police, are proposed to minimize false-positive lineup selections and, consequently, convictions of innocent persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The current article reviews the own-race bias (ORB) phenomenon in memory for human faces, the finding that own-race faces are better remembered when compared with memory for faces of another, less familiar race. Data were analyzed from 39 research articles, involving 91 independent samples and nearly 5,000 participants. Measures of hit and false alarm rates, and aggregate measures of discrimination accuracy and response criterion were examined, including an analysis of 8 study moderators. Several theoretical relationships were also assessed (i.e., the influence of racial attitudes and interracial contact). Overall, results indicated a "mirror effect" pattern in which own-race faces yielded a higher proportion of hits and a lower proportion of false alarms compared with other-race faces. Consistent with this effect, a significant ORB was also found in aggregate measures of discrimination accuracy and response criterion. The influence of perceptual learning and differentiation processes in the ORB are discussed, in addition to the practical implications of this phenomenon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Presents a meta-analysis of 128 eyewitness identification and facial recognition studies involving 960 experimental conditions and 16,950 Ss. The meta-analysis was designed to determine what knowledge has been accumulated on factors that influence facial identification performance and what areas of facial identification research would benefit from further research. Two techniques were used: an effect size analysis, which integrates the effect sizes of independent variables across studies, and a study-characteristics analysis, which integrates the influence of study characteristics on performance. A number of variables operating at the encoding and retrieval stages yielded large effects on performance. These variables included context reinstatement, transformations in the appearance of faces, depth of processing strategies, target distinctiveness, and elaboration at encoding. Additional variables yielding strong effects on recognition performance were exposure time, cross-racial identification, and retention interval. There was little correspondence between a variable's impact on hit rate and false-alarm rate. A list of the studies used in the meta-analysis is appended. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Currently there are no brief, self-administered instruments for measuring the degree to which an adult with normal intelligence has the traits associated with the autistic spectrum. In this paper, we report on a new instrument to assess this: the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ). Individuals score in the range 0–50. Four groups of subjects were assessed: Group 1: 58 adults with Asperger syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA); Group 2: 174 randomly selected controls. Group 3: 840 students in Cambridge University; and Group 4: 16 winners of the UK Mathematics Olympiad. The adults with AS/HFA had a mean AQ score of 35.8 (SD = 6.5), significantly higher than Group 2 controls (M = 16.4, SD = 6.3). 80% of the adults with AS/HFA scored 32+, versus 2% of controls. Among the controls, men scored slightly but significantly higher than women. No women scored extremely highly (AQ score 34+) whereas 4% of men did so. Twice as many men (40%) as women (21%) scored at intermediate levels (AQ score 20+). Among the AS/HFA group, male and female scores did not differ significantly. The students in Cambridge University did not differ from the randomly selected control group, but scientists (including mathematicians) scored significantly higher than both humanities and social sciences students, confirming an earlier study that autistic conditions are associated with scientific skills. Within the sciences, mathematicians scored highest. This was replicated in Group 4, the Mathematics Olympiad winners scoring significantly higher than the male Cambridge humanities students. 6% of the student sample scored 327plus; on the AQ. On interview, 11 out of 11 of these met three or more DSM-IV criteria for AS/HFA, and all were studying sciences/mathematics, and 7 of the 11 met threshold on these criteria. Test—retest and interrater reliability of the AQ was good. The AQ is thus a valuable instrument for rapidly quantifying where any given individual is situated on the continuum from autism to normality. Its potential for screening for autism spectrum conditions in adults of normal intelligence remains to be fully explored.
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This study examined the relationship between characteristics of the Broader Autism Phenotype (BAP) and nonverbal sensitivity, the ability to interpret nonverbal aspects of communication, in a non-clinical sample of college students. One hundred and two participants completed a self-report measure of the BAP, the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), and two tests of nonverbal sensitivity, the Test of Nonverbal Cue Knowledge (TONCK), and the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy 2 (DANVA2). AQ score was correlated with TONCK performance and number of errors on the adult faces subtest of the DANVA2, but not adult paralanguage or postures. These findings suggest that characteristics of ASD in the general population are associated with differences in both explicit and implicit knowledge of nonverbal cues.