Person descriptions and person identifications: Verbal overshadowing or recognition criterion shift?

Sauerland, Melanie; Holub, Franziska E.; Sporer, Siegfried L.

doi:10.1080/09541440701728417

Cited by 16 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The findings reproduced recent findings of a benefit of generating descriptions of faces on a later recognition test (Brown et al, 2010;Brown & Lloyd-Jones, 2005Wickham & Lander, 2008). The findings are also consistent with those on the benefit of descriptive labels for faces (McKelvie, 1976) and the benefit of descriptive information provided by the experimenter (Kerr & Winograd, 1982;Winograd, 1981).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…However, Brown and Lloyd-Jones (2005) obtained an effect for a feature (only) description condition. We note that Wickham and Lander (2008) did not obtain a benefit for feature-only descriptions, but their description period was 2 minutes long and enforced. A longer, enforced description period has been shown to produce overshadowing effects, presumably due to description inaccuracies introduced by the participant (Meissner, Brigham, & Kelley, 2001).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In several recent studies, multiple faces were shown in a study phase, and, for description conditions, a description immediately 2 Although recollection might be used correctly to accept target faces as "old", or perhaps incorrectly to exacerbate conjunction errors (via recollection of a feature or locally configural information), their data provided no compelling basis for such arguments. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, 2013, 66 (9) 1821 VERBAL DESCRIPTION BENEFIT followed each face (Brown & Lloyd-Jones, 2005Wickham & Lander, 2008; also see Bartlett et al, 1980;Kerr & Winograd, 1982;Sporer, 1991;Winograd, 1981). The immediacy and short, unforced nature of the descriptions arguably produce accurate descriptions, which should provide an opportunity to aid later performance (Brown et al, 2010).…”

Section: Description Effectsmentioning

confidence: 95%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Verbal Description Benefits for Faces When Description Conditions are Unknown a Priori

Jones

Armstrong

Casey

et al. 2013

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Some prior research has shown a benefit for describing nonverbal study stimuli, particularly faces, on a later recognition test relative to a control (no description) condition. In such studies, participants have known a priori whether a stimulus will need to be described, meaning that encoding differences other than the description could account for the effect. In Experiment 1, a description benefit was obtained for faces that could not be attributed to encoding differences. A direct manipulation of description duration, thus allowing more time to produce descriptors, did not influence the description effect. In Experiment 2, visual rehearsal instructions (without any verbal descriptions) failed to produce a rehearsal benefit. The experiments provide direct evidence against an account where the description or rehearsal enhances the featural information of nonverbal representations. For the present results, a benefit stemming from the encoding and retrieval of descriptors appears to be an attractive theoretical alternative over one that posits an enhancement or alteration of featural or holistic information.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Description Effectsmentioning

confidence: 95%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Verbal Description Benefits for Faces When Description Conditions are Unknown a Priori

Jones

Armstrong

Casey

et al. 2013

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The number of incorrect details reported negatively correlated with choosing any face from the lineup. These results suggest that underlying knowledge about the accuracy of one's descriptions influences choosing behaviour (Sauerland, Holub & Sporer, ).…”

Section: Criterion Shift Accountmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Finally, it should be noted that there is further evidence suggesting that verbalisation accuracy can affect criterion placement. Sauerland, Holub and Sporer () investigated the effect of verbal descriptions on identification accuracy with a retention interval of 1 week between description and identification. Participants watched a video of a crime and then wrote a description of the perpetrator.…”

Section: Criterion Shift Accountmentioning

confidence: 99%

ROC Analysis of the Verbal Overshadowing Effect: Testing the Effect of Verbalisation on Memory Sensitivity

Smith

Flowe

2014

Applied Cognitive Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study investigated the role of memory sensitivity versus recognition criterion in the verbal overshadowing effect (VOE). Lineup recognition data was analysed using ROC analysis to separate the effects of verbalisation on memory sensitivity from criterion placement. Participants watched a short crime video, described the perpetrator's facial features then attempted a lineup identification. Description instructions were varied between participants. There was a standard (free report), forced (report everything), and warning (report accurate information) condition. Control participants did not describe the perpetrator.Memory sensitivity was greater in the control compared to the standard condition. Memory sensitivity was also greater in the warning compared to forced and standard conditions. Memory sensitivity did not differ across the forced and standard description conditions, although a more conservative lineup decision standard was employed in the forced condition.These results, along with qualitative analyses of descriptions, support both retrieval-based and criterion-based explanations of the VOE. descriptions, rule out other suspects, and construct fair lineups. Obtaining a detailed and accurate verbal description of the perpetrator can be vital in securing a conviction. Some psychological research suggests that in prompting witnesses to describe a perpetrator, the police may be undermining the diagnostic value of lineup identification evidence (e.g. Schooler & Engstler-Schooler, 1990). The act of describing the perpetrator could subsequently make witnesses less likely to identify the guilty suspect from a lineup.The verbal overshadowing effect (VOE) refers to the tendency for verbal descriptions to impair subsequent recognition performance. In Schooler and Engstler-Schooler's (1990) seminal study, participants watched a 30-second video of a robbery then attempted to identify the perpetrator on an 8-person target-present lineup. Participants who verbally described the perpetrator's face prior to the lineup were significantly less accurate than those who did not.The effect has been replicated

show abstract

Interviewing for Face Identification

Gabbert¹,

Brown²

2015

Forensic Facial Identification

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Person descriptions and person identifications: Verbal overshadowing or recognition criterion shift?

Cited by 16 publications

References 41 publications

Verbal Description Benefits for Faces When Description Conditions are Unknown a Priori

Verbal Description Benefits for Faces When Description Conditions are Unknown a Priori

ROC Analysis of the Verbal Overshadowing Effect: Testing the Effect of Verbalisation on Memory Sensitivity

Interviewing for Face Identification

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About