Visual perception plays a crucial role in evidence provided by witnesses. It is not unusual for an accused to be found guilty solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony. We were asked to reproduce the visual conditions in which observers would witness a mafia murder, and then to test if they could confidently identify the killer. A group of seventy-two observers were tested. Two variables were manipulated: the distance killer - observer (6 m or 16 m) and the orientation (killer viewed frontally, 45° left or 45° right). The illumination was controlled (low intensity). The experiment was run on two separate days. On day 1, each observer (twelve for each condition) viewed the killer for 1.5 s. They immediately completed a questionnaire about what they had just seen. Four days later they were asked to identify the killer among five look-alike people in a simultaneous lineup. Our results further challenge the notion that eyewitnesses can provide reliable evidence in identification parades. [This work was supported by MIUR Grant 2005115173.]
Guilty or innocent? Distance and orientation in suspect identification under poor illumination conditions.
GALMONTE, Alessandra;
2008-01-01
Abstract
Visual perception plays a crucial role in evidence provided by witnesses. It is not unusual for an accused to be found guilty solely on the basis of eyewitness testimony. We were asked to reproduce the visual conditions in which observers would witness a mafia murder, and then to test if they could confidently identify the killer. A group of seventy-two observers were tested. Two variables were manipulated: the distance killer - observer (6 m or 16 m) and the orientation (killer viewed frontally, 45° left or 45° right). The illumination was controlled (low intensity). The experiment was run on two separate days. On day 1, each observer (twelve for each condition) viewed the killer for 1.5 s. They immediately completed a questionnaire about what they had just seen. Four days later they were asked to identify the killer among five look-alike people in a simultaneous lineup. Our results further challenge the notion that eyewitnesses can provide reliable evidence in identification parades. [This work was supported by MIUR Grant 2005115173.]
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