The "saw-it-all-along" effect: demonstrations of visual hindsight bias.
The authors address whether a hindsight bias exists for visual perception tasks. In 3 experiments, participants identified degraded celebrity faces as they resolved to full clarity (Phase 1). Following Phase 1, participants either recalled the level of blur present at the time of Phase 1 identification or predicted the level of blur at which a peer would make an accurate identification. In all experiments, participants overestimated identification performance of naive observers. Visual hindsight bias was greater for more familiar faces--those shown in both phases of the experiment--and was not reduced following instructions to participants to avoid the bias. The authors propose a fluency-misattribution theory to account for the bias and discuss implications for medical malpractice litigation and eyewitness testimony.
Harley
Erin M
EM
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. harley@psych.ucla.edu
Carlsen
Keri A
KA
Loftus
Geoffrey R
GR
D003469:Culture; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005145:Face; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D011582:Psychological Theory; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014796:Visual Perception