Design/methodology/approach -A detailed account is given of the interaction between practitioner and witness for producing a facial composite. This account involves an overview of the Cognitive Interview (CI) and the Holistic CI (H-CI) techniques used to obtain a description of the face of an offender (target); we then describe how this information is used to produce a composite from five popular face-production systems: Sketch, PRO-fit, E-FIT, EvoFIT and EFIT-V. An online annex is also made available to provide procedural information for additional composite systems. Practical implications -The work is valuable to forensic practitioners and researchers as a reference for interviewing techniques (involving a CI or an H-CI) and using facial-composite systems.Originality/value -We provide an accessible, current guide for how to administer interviewing techniques and how to construct composites from a range of face-production systems. Keywords Facial composite, Sketch, PRO-fit, E-FIT, EvoFIT, EFIT-V, Cognitive Interview (CI), Holistic CI (H-CI) Paper type ProceduralAcknowledgements The authors would like to thank Claire Ford, Emily Graham and Claire Madin,

(6) Scientific Support Lancashire Constabulary, PR4 5SB (7) Department of Psychology University of Stirling, FK9 4LA 2 Eyewitnesses are often invited to construct a facial composite, an image created of the person they saw commit a crime that is used by law enforcement to locate criminal suspects. In the current paper, the effectiveness of composite images was investigated from traditional feature systems (E-FIT and PRO-fit), where participants (face constructors) selected individual features to build the face, and a more recent holistic system (EvoFIT), where they 'evolved' a composite by repeatedly selecting from arrays of complete faces. Further participants attempted to name these composites when seen as an unaltered image, or when blurred, rotated, linearly stretched or converted to a photographic negative. All of the manipulations tested reduced correct naming of the composites overall except (i) for a low level of blur, for which naming improved for holistic composites but reduced for feature composites, and (ii) for 100% linear stretch, for which a substantial naming advantage was observed. Results also indicated that both featural (facial elements) and configural (feature spacing) information was useful for recognition in both types of composite system, but highly-detailed information was more accurate in the feature-based than the holistic method. The naming advantage of linear stretch was replicated using a forensically more-practical procedure with observers viewing an unaltered composite sideways. The work is valuable to police practitioners and designers of facial-composite systems. The research investigates the effectiveness of facial-composite systems as used by police practitioners to locate people (offenders) who commit crime. It is found that different types of information were created differently for contrasting composite systems. A novel presentation format was also developed that should substantially improve recognition of real-world composites.(50 words.) 3

It is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from the work.http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cep0000101For more information about UCLan's research in this area go to http://www.uclan.ac.uk/researchgroups/ and search for . Between 24 and 28 hours 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 those constructed after experiencing quiet, or ignoring a meaningfulness 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.

Note that the current paper makes a distinction between the composite face effect (CFE), as described by Young et al., 2 and facial composites, as used by forensic practitioners.

Memory is facilitated by reflecting upon, or revisiting, the environment in which information was encoded. We investigated these "context reinstatement" (CR) techniques to improve the effectiveness of facial compositesvisual likenesses of a perpetrator's face constructed by eyewitnesses. Participant-constructors viewed a face and, after a one-day-delay, revisited (Physical CR) or recalled the environmental context (Mental/Detailed CR) before recalling the face and constructing an EvoFIT or a PRO-fit composite. Detailed CR increased correct naming of ensuing composites, but only when participant-constructors suitably encoded the environment. Detailed CR was also effective when combined with another interviewing technique (Holistic-Cognitive Interview), with focus on a target's character; it was no more effective prompting constructors to engage in greater environmental recall. Analyses indicate that the Detailed CR advantage was mediated by an increase in face recall. Results are applicable by forensic practitioners to aid eyewitness memory, thereby potentially increasing suspect identification and subsequent arrest rates.