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The distance threshold of reliable eyewitness identification
Thomas J Nyman1, James Michael Lampinen2, Jan Antfolk3
1Department of Psychology.
Law and Human Behavior
|July 12, 2019
Summary
Eyewitness accuracy decreases with distance, with significant drops beyond 40m. Age and lineup type affect these distance thresholds for reliable identification.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Forensic Science
- Perception
Background:
- Eyewitness identification accuracy declines with increasing distance.
- The maximum reliable observation distance for eyewitnesses remains unknown.
- Age can influence visual perception and memory recall.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the maximum distance for reliable eyewitness identification.
- To investigate the impact of distance on identification accuracy, rejection accuracy, confidence, and response time.
- To examine age-group specific distance thresholds for eyewitness diagnosticity.
Main Methods:
- 1,588 participants (ages 6-77) viewed live targets at distances from 5m to 110m.
- An 8-person computerized lineup task (simultaneous/sequential, target-absent/present) was used.
- Data included 6,233 responses analyzed for diagnosticity, confidence, and response time.
Main Results:
- Diagnosticity dropped by 50% at 40m compared to 5m.
- Reliable diagnosticity (1 ±0.5) was achieved around 100m for all groups.
- Young children and older adults reached diagnosticity thresholds at shorter distances than young adults.
Conclusions:
- Age and lineup type significantly moderate the effect of distance on eyewitness accuracy.
- Perceptual distance thresholds exist beyond which reliable encoding and identification are compromised.
- Confidence and response time are associated with identification accuracy up to 40m.
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