Mug shot exposure prior to lineup identification: interference, transference, and commitment effects.
The effects of viewing mug shots on subsequent identification performance are as yet unclear. Two experiments used a live staged-crime paradigm to determine if interpolated eyewitness exposure to mug shots caused interference, unconscious transference, or commitment effects influencing subsequent lineup accuracy. Experiment 1 (N = 104) tested interference effects. Similar correct decision rates were obtained for the mug shot and no mug shot groups from both perpetrator-present and absent lineups. Experiment 2 (N = 132) tested for commitment and transference effects. Results showed that the commitment group made significantly more incorrect identifications than either the control or the transference group, which had similar false-identification rates. Commitment effects present a serious threat to identification accuracy from lineups following mug shot searches.
Dysart
J E
JE
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Lindsay
R C
RC
Hammond
R
R
Dupuis
P
P
D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011173:Portraits as Topic; D011897:Random Allocation; D014167:Transference, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception