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Exposure duration: Effects on eyewitness accuracy and confidence
Author(s) -
Memon Amina,
Hope Lorraine,
Bull Ray
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1348/000712603767876262
Subject(s) - psychology , eyewitness identification , culprit , exposure duration , duration (music) , developmental psychology , audiology , confidence interval , eyewitness testimony , eyewitness memory , social psychology , statistics , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , medicine , recall , art , literature , environmental health , mathematics , database , relation (database) , myocardial infarction , computer science
The current study examined the relationship between the length of exposure to a face in an eyewitness setting and identification accuracy and confidence. A sample of 164 young (ages 17–25) and older (ages 59–81) adults viewed a simulated crime in which they saw the culprit's face for a short (12 s) or long (45 s) duration. They were then tested with a target absent (a line‐up not containing the culprit) or target present line‐up. Identification accuracy rates for both young and older participants were significantly higher under the long exposure condition. In the short exposure condition, witnesses who had made a correct identification of the target were more confident than incorrect witnesses. In the long exposure condition the confidence ratings of accurate and inaccurate witnesses did not differ. Discussion focuses on the extent to which extended exposure may inflate confidence judgments and variables that may moderate the relationship between exposure duration and face recognition accuracy.