Citation

Searcy J, Bartlett JC, Memon A. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 2000; 5(2): 219-235.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1348/135532500168100

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. Older individuals have been found to exceed young adults in false recognitions on line-up tasks. To explore factors involved in this deficit, this study compared effects of post-event information and sequential line-up presentation on false identification by young and elderly adults. Methods. Ninety-eight community-dwelling older adults (ages 57-83) and 97 college students (ages 19-33) saw a videotape of a simulated crime, then heard an auditory narrative. Some heard a review of the events of the crime (including some misinformation) and others heard a control narrative that was unrelated to the video. Participants recalled the crime and then saw either a simultaneous or sequential target-absent line-up. The study compared the relationship of the experimental variables and several individual difference measures to false identification rates on the line-up. Results. Sequential line-ups reduced false identification rates for young and elderly adults. Hearing a relevant post-event narrative increased false identifications, but only in the older group. For the elderly, high verbal recall of the perpetrator's characteristics was also associated with higher false identification rates. In addition, it was found that (1) misleading information in the post-event narratives influenced line-up choices, and (2) higher false identification rates were related to perseverative errors in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, memory self-efficacy and low Belief in a Just World. Conclusions. Results suggest that reducing post-crime exposure to crime-relevant information, combined with sequential line-ups, can substantially reduce false identification by older witnesses. They also indicate the need to explore further the influence of post-event information, sequential line-up presentation, availability, and self-confidence upon older eyewitnesses.

Language: en