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Refining the blank line‐up procedure: How should we instruct eyewitnesses?
Author(s) -
Kucina Talira,
Sauer James D.,
Holt Glenys A.,
Brewer Neil,
Palmer Matthew A.
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.3719
Subject(s) - blank , psychology , line (geometry) , suspect , identification (biology) , line drawings , social psychology , criminology , engineering drawing , engineering , mechanical engineering , botany , geometry , mathematics , biology
Summary Presenting a blank line‐up—containing only fillers—to witnesses prior to showing a real line‐up might be useful for screening out those who pick from the blank line‐up as unreliable witnesses. We show that the effectiveness of this procedure varies depending on instructions given to witnesses. Participants ( N = 462) viewed a simulated crime and attempted to identify the perpetrator from a line‐up approximately 1 week later. Rejecting a blank line‐up was associated with greater identification accuracy and greater diagnosticity of suspect identifications, but only when witnesses were instructed prior to the blank line‐up that they would view a series of line‐ups; the procedure was ineffective for screening when witnesses were advised they would view two line‐ups or received no instruction. These results highlight the importance of instructions used in the blank line‐up procedure, and the need for better understanding of how to interpret choosing patterns in this paradigm.