Improving the quality of facial composites using a holistic cognitive interview.

Abstract

Improving the quality of facial composites using a holistic cognitive interview Running head: Holistic Composite Construction Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied AbstractWitnesses to and victims of serious crime are normally asked to describe the appearance of a criminal suspect, using a Cognitive Interview (CI), and to construct a facial composite, a visual representation of the face. Research suggests that focussing on the more global aspects of a face, as opposed to its facial features, facilitates recognition and improves composite quality; also, that the CI enables more effective use of a composite system. The current study evaluated a novel 'holistic' Cognitive Interview (H-CI). This comprised a descriptive phase, using a CI, followed by a recognition-enhancing phase, involving the attribution of seven holistic properties. Participant-witnesses watched a video of a target, then 3-4 hours later received either a CI or an H-CI and constructed a single composite with a standard system, PRO-fit. Composites constructed after the H-CI were correctly named more than four times as often as those after the CI, attributable to an improvement in the quality of both the internal and external parts of the face. In police work, the H-CI offers the possibility of substantially improving the identification of criminal suspects. (180 words) Acknowledgement This research was supported by a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/C522893/1). The authors would like to thank Cindy Frowd, for her insightful comments on an early draft of the paper, as well as three anonymous reviewers.

Whole-face procedures for recovering facial images from memory

“…Cabeza & Kato, 2000) and composites (e.g. Frowd, Bruce, Smith and Hancock, 2008). The idea also resonates with a type of face model (two-pool opponent coding) that can be linear as well as non-linear (e.g.…”

“…intelligence, friendliness and distinctiveness). In Frowd, Bruce, Smith and Hancock (2008), composites constructed using the PRO-fit feature system after this 'holistic' cognitive interview (H-CI) were correctly named at 41.2% compared with 8.6% for composites constructed after the traditional CI.…”

“…Frowd, Bruce, Smith & Hancock, 2008). This aims to improve witnesses' face recognition and consequently allow them to select facial features with greater accuracy.…”

“…images with inaccurate facial texture). The most likely candidates underlying the benefit of (perceptual) stretch are the individual features, whose likeness is known to positively correlate with composite naming (Frowd, Bruce, Smith and Hancock, 2008), and the region around eyes, in particular the eye spacing, known to be important for recognition (e.g. Diamond & Carey, 1996;Leder & Bruce, 2000;McIntyre, Frowd, Bruce & Hancock, 2010).…”

“…Shapiro & Penrod, 1986). The knock-on effect of this interview is that constructors select faces from EvoFIT arrays based on their overall appearance rather than on their individual features (Frowd, Bruce, Smith and Hancock, 2008).…”