Perpetrator pose reinstatement during a lineup test increases discrimination accuracy

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Forensic Psychology

Background:

• Eyewitness identification is crucial in legal proceedings.
• Memory retrieval can be influenced by contextual factors present during encoding and retrieval.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of encoding view angle on eyewitness memory accuracy.
• To determine if matching viewing angles at encoding and retrieval enhances identification performance.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted with large participant samples (N=2904 and N=1430).
• Participants viewed a mock crime and later identified the perpetrator from a photo lineup (Experiment 1) or an interactive lineup allowing face rotation (Experiment 2).
• Viewing angle at encoding was manipulated and compared to the viewing angle during the identification test.

Main Results:

• Identification accuracy was significantly higher when the viewing angle at encoding matched the viewing angle at retrieval.
• Participants using the interactive lineup actively rotated faces to match their initial encoding perspective.
• This suggests a reliance on encoding specificity for accurate eyewitness recall.

Conclusions:

• The angle from which an event is viewed significantly impacts eyewitness memory recall.
• Matching encoding and retrieval viewing angles is critical for accurate eyewitness identification.
• Individuals actively seek to reinstate original viewing conditions to facilitate memory retrieval.