Faye Collette Skelton

Registered Replication Report

Trying to remember something now typically improves your ability to remember it later. However, after watching a video of a simulated bank robbery, participants who verbally described the robber were 25% worse at identifying the robber in a lineup than were participants who instead listed U.S. states and capitals—this has been termed the “verbal overshadowing” effect (Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990). More recent studies suggested that this effect might be substantially smaller than first reported. Given uncertainty about the effect size, the influence of this finding in the memory literature, and its practical importance for police procedures, we conducted two collections of preregistered direct replications (RRR1 and RRR2) that differed only in the order of the description task and a filler task. In RRR1, when the description task immediately followed the robbery, participants who provided a description were 4% less likely to select the robber than were those in the control condition. In RRR2, when the description was delayed by 20 min, they were 16% less likely to select the robber. These findings reveal a robust verbal overshadowing effect that is strongly influenced by the relative timing of the tasks. The discussion considers further implications of these replications for our understanding of verbal overshadowing.

Catching Even More Offenders with EvoFIT Facial Composites

Facial composites are an investigative tool used by police to identify suspects of crime. Unfortunately, traditional methods to construct the face have rather low success rates. We have been developing a new recognition-based method called EvoFIT that requires eyewitnesses to select whole faces from arrays of alternatives. Both published laboratory research and existing police field-trials have found that EvoFIT produces images that are more identifiable than images from traditional systems. In the current paper, we present an evaluation of a more recent version of EvoFIT: in 2010, EvoFIT was deployed in 35 criminal investigations by Humberside police and these images directly led to identification of 21 suspects, equating to 60% success - quadruple the performance of the previous system used within the force. The evaluation also showed that identification of a suspect led to conviction in 29% of investigations (6 out of 21). Overall, a conviction occurred in 17% of cases involving use of an EvoFIT (6 out of 35). We also outline more recent developments which indicate that an arrest is now likely in three out of every four cases in which EvoFIT is used, and a conviction rate of one in five.

A decade of evolving composites: regression and meta-analysis.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of seven variables that emerge from forensic research on facial-composite construction and naming using contemporary police systems: EvoFIT, Feature and Sketch. Design/methodology/approach – The paper involves regression- and meta-analyses on composite-naming data from 23 studies that have followed procedures used by police practitioners for forensic face construction. The corpus for analyses contains 6,464 individual naming responses from 1,069 participants in 41 experimental conditions. Findings – The analyses reveal that composites constructed from the holistic EvoFIT system were over four-times more identifiable than composites from “Feature” (E-FIT and PRO-fit) and Sketch systems; Sketch was somewhat more effective than Feature systems. EvoFIT was more effective when internal features were created before rather than after selecting hair and the other (blurred) external features. Adding questions about the global appearance of the face (as pa...

Do children utilize motion when recognizing faces

Previous research indicates that unfamiliar faces may be recognized better if they are viewed in motion. This study utilized a three trial learning paradigm to investigate whether unfamiliar faces are learnt more quickly from moving clips than from static images. Children aged 6–7 years and 10–11 years were shown a series of faces as either static images or dynamic clips, followed by either by a static or a dynamic recognition test. Faces were recognized more accurately when presented in motion, but there was no advantage for testing in motion. Although older children were more accurate overall, younger females performed as well as older children for faces presented in motion, suggesting that females’ face processing skills develop more quickly than those of males. Results are discussed in terms of the motion advantage arising due to additional structural information enhancing the internal representation of the face.

Understanding the multiframe caricature advantage for recognizing facial composites

Eyewitnesses often construct a “composite” face of a person they saw commit a crime, a picture that police use to identify suspects. We described a technique (Frowd, Bruce, Ross, McIntyre, & Hancock, 2007) based on facial caricature to facilitate recognition of these images: Correct naming substantially improves when composites are seen with progressive positive caricature, where distinctive information is enhanced, and then with progressive negative caricature, the opposite. Over the course of four experiments, the underpinnings of this mechanism were explored. Positive-caricature levels were found to be largely responsible for improving naming of composites, with some benefit from negative-caricature levels. Also, different frame-presentation orders (forward, reverse, random, repeated) facilitated equivalent naming benefit relative to static composites. Overall, the data indicate that composites are usually constructed as negative caricatures.

Familiarity effects in the construction of facial-composite images using modern software systems

We investigate the effect of target familiarity on the construction of facial composites, as used by law enforcement to locate criminal suspects. Two popular software construction methods were investigated. Participants were showna target face that was either familiar or unfamiliar to them and constructed a composite of it from memoryusing a typical ‘feature’ system, involving selection of individual facial features, or one of the newer ‘holistic’ types, involving repeated selection and breeding from arrays of whole faces. This study found that composites constructed of a familiar face were named more successfully than composites of an unfamiliar face; also, naming of composites of internal and external features was equivalent for construction of unfamiliar targets, but internal features were better named than the external features for familiar targets. These findings applied to both systems, althoughbenefit emerged for the holistic type due to more accurate construction of internal features and evidence for a whole-face advantage. Statement of Relevance: This work is of relevance to practitioners who construct facial composites with witnesses to and victims of crime, as well as for software designers to help them improve the effectiveness of their composite systems.

The benefit of context for facial-composite construction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the presence of a whole-face context during facial composite production facilitates construction of facial composite images. Design/methodology/approach – In Experiment 1, constructors viewed a celebrity face and then developed a facial composite using PRO-fit software in one of two conditions: either the full-face was visible while facial features were selected, or only the feature currently being selected. The composites were named by different participants. The authors then replicated the study using a more forensically valid procedure: in Experiment 2 non-football fans viewed an image of a premiership footballer and 24 hours later constructed a composite of the face with a trained software operator. The resulting composites were named by football fans. Findings – In both studies, the presence of the facial context promoted more identifiable facial composites. Research limitations/implications – Current composite software was deployed in a c...

The impact of irrelevant auditory facial descriptions on memory for target faces: implications for eyewitness memory

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential susceptibility of eyewitness memory to the presence of extraneous background speech that comprises a description consistent with, or at odds with, a target face. Design/methodology/approach – A between-participants design was deployed whereby participants viewed an unfamiliar target face in the presence of quiet, or extraneous to-be-ignored speech comprising a verbal description that was either congruent or incongruent with the target face. After a short distractor task, participants were asked to describe the target face and construct a composite of the face using PRO-fit software. Further participants rated the likeness of the composites to the target. Findings – Recall of correct facial descriptors was facilitated by congruent to-be-ignored speech and inhibited by incongruent to-be-ignored speech compared to quiet. Moreover, incorrect facial descriptors were reported more often in the incongruent speech condition compared with the cong...

Chatting in the face of the eyewitness: The impact of extraneous cell-phone conversation on memory for a perpetrator.

Cell-phone conversation is ubiquitous within public spaces. The current study investigates whether ignored cell-phone conversation impairs eyewitness memory for a perpetrator. Participants viewed a video of a staged crime in the presence of 1 side of a comprehensible cell-phone conversation (meaningful halfalogue), 2 sides of a comprehensible cell-phone conversation (meaningful dialogue), 1 side of an incomprehensible cell-phone conversation (meaningless halfalogue), or quiet. Between 24 and 28 hr later, participants freely described the perpetrator’s face, constructed a single composite image of the perpetrator from memory, and attempted to identify the perpetrator from a sequential lineup. Further, participants rated the likeness of the composites to the perpetrator. Face recall and lineup identification were impaired when participants witnessed the staged crime in the presence of a meaningful halfalogue compared to a meaningless halfalogue, meaningful dialogue, or quiet. Moreover, likeness ratings showed that the composites constructed after ignoring the meaningful halfalogue resembled the perpetrator less than did those constructed after experiencing quiet or ignoring a meaningless halfalogue or a meaningful dialogue. The unpredictability of the meaningful content of the halfalogue, rather than its acoustic unexpectedness, produces distraction. The results are novel in that they suggest that an everyday distraction, even when presented in a different modality to target information, can impair the long-term memory of an eyewitness. Les conversations par téléphone cellulaire sont omniprésentes dans les espaces publics. La présente étude examine si le fait d’ignorer une conversation par téléphone cellulaire altère la mémoire d’un témoin oculaire par rapport au visage d’un malfaiteur. Les participants ont visionné une mise en scène de crime, sur vidéo, où l’on y présentait un côté d’une conversation par téléphone cellulaire compréhensible (milogue sensé), les deux côtés d’une conversation par téléphone cellulaire compréhensible (dialogue sensé), un côté d’une conversation par téléphone cellulaire incompréhensible (milogue insensé), ou le silence. Entre 24 et 48 heures plus tard, les participants décrivaient librement le visage du malfaiteur, construisaient une image composite du malfaiteur à partir de leur mémoire et tentaient d’identifier le malfaiteur dans une séance d’identification. Par la suite, les participants devaient évaluer dans quelle mesure leur image composite ressemblait au malfaiteur. Le rappel du visage et l’identification lors de la séance d’identification étaient altérés chez les participants qui avaient été témoins de la scène de crime en présence d’un milogue sensé comparativement à ceux qui étaient en présence d’un milogue insensé, d’un dialogue sensé ou du silence. De plus, les évaluations en termes de similarité ont montré que les composites construits après avoir ignoré les milogues sensés ressemblaient moins au malfaiteur que les composites construits par les participants en présence de silence, de milogue insensé ou de dialogue sensé. Le caractère imprévisible du contenu sensé du milogue, plutôt que son imprévisibilité acoustique, engendre de la distraction. Les résultats sont innovateurs en ce sens qu’ils suggèrent qu’une distraction de tous les jours, même si présentée sous une modalité différente pour cibler l’information, peut altérer la mémoire à long terme d’un témoin oculaire.