According to the Diagnostic Feature-Detection (DFD) hypothesis, the presence of fillers that match the eyewitness's description of the perpetrator will boost discriminability beyond a showup, and very few fillers may suffice to produce the advantage, so we tested this hypothesis by comparing showups with simultaneous lineups of size 3, 6, 9, and 12.
Participants (N = 10,433) were randomly assigned to one of these conditions, as well as target-present (TP) versus target-absent (TA) lineup. As predicted by the DFD hypothesis, lineups were superior to showups, and there was no advantage with increased lineup size beyond a 3-member lineup. The confidence-accuracy (CA) relationship held a similar pattern. The only effect of increased lineup size was a lower likelihood of choosing a suspect (guilty or innocent). We conclude that police should focus more on the quality rather than quantity of fillers. (Publisher abstract provided)
Downloads
Similar Publications
- Evaluating the Robustness and Ruggedness of a Statistical Model for Comparison of Mass Spectral Data for Seized Drug Identification
- Workflow to Facilitate the Detection of New Psychoactive Substances and Drugs of Abuse in Influent Urban Wastewater
- Evidence-Based Evaluation Of The Analytical Schemes In ASTM E2329-17 Standard Practice For Identification Of Seized Drugs For Methamphetamine Samples