title: Thinking forensics: Cognitive science for forensic practitioners.
abstract: Human factors and their implications for forensic science have attracted increasing levels of interest across criminal justice communities in recent years. Initial interest centred on cognitive biases, but has since expanded such that knowledge from psychology and cognitive science is slowly infiltrating forensic practices more broadly. This article highlights a series of important findings and insights of relevance to forensic practitioners. These include research on human perception, memory, context information, expertise, decision-making, communication, experience, verification, confidence, and feedback. The aim of this article is to sensitise forensic practitioners (and lawyers and judges) to a range of potentially significant issues, and encourage them to engage with research in these domains so that they may adapt procedures to improve performance, mitigate risks and reduce errors. Doing so will reduce the divide between forensic practitioners and research scientists as well as improve the value and utility of forensic science evidence.
authors.affiliation: School of Law, UNSW, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: g.edmond@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Edmond
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom; School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: a.towler@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Towler
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: b.growns@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Bethany
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Growns
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: g.ribeiro@uqconnect.edu.au.
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Office of the Chief Forensic Scientist, Victoria Police, 31 Forensic Drive, MacLeod 3085, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: bryan.found@police.vic.gov.au.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Found
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: david.white@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Office of the Chief Forensic Scientist, Victoria Police, 31 Forensic Drive, MacLeod 3085, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: kaye.ballantyne@police.vic.gov.au.
authors.forename: Kaye
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ballantyne
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: r.searston@uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Searston
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, QLD, Australia; School of Psychology and Exercise Science, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch 6150, WA, Australia. Electronic address: matthew.thompson@murdoch.edu.au.
authors.forename: Matthew B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia 4072, QLD, Australia. Electronic address: jtangen@psy.uq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jason M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tangen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: richard.kemp@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Richard I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, UNSW, Sydney 2052, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: k.martire@unsw.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kristy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martire
mesh_terms: D019336:Cognitive Science; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005246:Feedback; D044707:Forensic Sciences; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011361:Professional Competence
keywords: Bias; Experience; Expert; Human factors; Performance; Psychology; Training