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“All I remember is the black eye”: A distinctive facial feature harms eyewitness identification
Author(s) -
Jones Alyssa R.,
Carlson Curt A.,
Lockamyeir Robert F.,
Hemby Jacob A.,
Carlson Maria A.,
Wooten Alex R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3714
Subject(s) - psychology , eyewitness identification , feature (linguistics) , eyewitness memory , black male , identification (biology) , face (sociological concept) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , computer science , relation (database) , linguistics , gender studies , philosophy , recall , botany , database , sociology , biology
Summary Many crimes occur in which a perpetrator has a distinctive facial feature, such as a tattoo or black eye, but few eyewitness identification (ID) studies have involved such a feature. We conducted an experiment to determine how eyewitness ID performance is impacted by a distinctive facial feature, and how police could deal with this issue. Participants ( N = 4,218) studied a target face with or without a black eye, and later viewed a simultaneous photo lineup either containing the target or not. For those who saw a target with a black eye, this feature was either replicated among all lineup members or was removed. The black eye harmed empirical discriminability regardless of replication or removal, which did not differ. However, participants responded more conservatively when the black eye was removed, compared to replication. Lastly, immediate confidence was consistently indicative of accuracy.