ABSTRACT

Distance, lighting, and facial masking negatively impact eyewitness identification accuracy. We investigated their combined effect on accuracy and how internal (e.g., eyes) versus external (e.g., hair) masking impacts accuracy. Using live targets witnessed by 1325 participants, we investigated the effects of distance (5m, 12.5m, 20m), lighting (optimal:300lx, suboptimal:2lx), facial masking (no facial masking, sunglasses, hood, sunglasses & hood), and eyewitness age (5-90) on identification accuracy in target-present (TP) or target-absent (TA) eight-person simultaneous photograph line-ups. TP identification accuracy, with no facial masking, for all participants was .69 (.96 for only 18-44-year-old choosers) at 5m, .34 (.58) at 12.5m, and .17 (.42) at 20m. TA rejection accuracy for all participants was .63 (.60 for only 18-44-year-olds) at 5m, .42 (.54) at 12.5m, and .46 (.46) at 20m. Facial masking further decreased accuracy; internal facial masking had the strongest negative effect. The combined negative effects of distance, lighting, and facial masking resulted in chance-level performance in TP line-ups (i.e., .125) in some instances. We also found a positive association between accuracy and high confidence and shorter response times. We recommend that law enforcement agencies and researchers report these variables to allow for the postdiction of the likely accuracy of an eyewitness decision.

摘要

距离、照明和面部遮挡会对目击者识别的准确性产生负面影响。我们研究了它们对准确性的综合影响，以及内部（例如眼睛）与外部（例如头发）掩蔽如何影响准确性。使用 1325 名参与者目睹的实时目标，我们研究了距离（5m、12.5m、20m）、照明（最佳：300lx、次优：2lx）、面部遮蔽（无面部遮蔽、太阳镜、头罩、太阳镜和头罩）、目击者年龄 (5-90) 对有目标 (TP) 或无目标 (TA) 八人同时拍照队列中的识别准确性的影响。在没有面部遮挡的情况下，所有参与者在 5m 处的 TP 识别准确度为 0.69（仅 18-44 岁的选择者为 0.96），在 12.5m 处为 0.34 (0.58)，在 12.5m 处为 0.17 (0.42)。 20m。所有参与者在 5m 处的 TA 拒绝准确度为 0.63（仅 18-44 岁的人为 0.60）。12.5m 处为 42 (.54)，20m 处为 0.46 (.46)。面部遮挡进一步降低了准确性；内部面膜的负面影响最强。在某些情况下，距离、光照和面部遮蔽的综合负面影响会导致 TP 阵容（即 0.125）出现机会级表现。我们还发现准确性和高置信度以及较短的响应时间之间存在正相关关系。我们建议执法机构和研究人员报告这些变量，以便对目击者决定的可能准确性进行事后预测。我们还发现准确性和高置信度以及较短的响应时间之间存在正相关关系。我们建议执法机构和研究人员报告这些变量，以便对目击者决定的可能准确性进行事后预测。我们还发现准确性和高置信度以及较短的响应时间之间存在正相关关系。我们建议执法机构和研究人员报告这些变量，以便对目击者决定的可能准确性进行事后预测。