The impact of weapons and unusual objects on the construction of facial composites
The presence of a weapon in the perpetration of a crime can impede an observer’s ability to describe and/or recognise the person responsible. In the current experiment, we explore whether weapons when present at encoding of a target identity interfere with the construction of a facial composite. Par...
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Contributors: | ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; |
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2024
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In: |
Psychology, crime & law
Year: 2024, Volume: 30, Issue: 3, Pages: 207–228 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Keywords: |
Summary: | The presence of a weapon in the perpetration of a crime can impede an observer’s ability to describe and/or recognise the person responsible. In the current experiment, we explore whether weapons when present at encoding of a target identity interfere with the construction of a facial composite. Participants encoded an unfamiliar target face seen either on its own or paired with a knife. Encoding duration (10 or 30 s) was also manipulated. The following day, participants recalled the face and constructed a composite of it using a holistic system (EvoFIT). Correct naming of the participants’ composites was found to reduce reliably when target faces were paired with the weapon at 10 s but not at 30 s. These data suggest that the presence of a weapon reduces the effectiveness of facial composites following a short encoding duration. Implications for theory and police practice are discussed. |
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ISSN: | 1477-2744 |
DOI: | 10.1080/1068316X.2022.2079643 |