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Abstract: 

This is the fourth in a series examining flaws in eyewitness identification. In the first three parts, the author examined key factors that influence the way a witness encodes or processes a memory: “estimator variables,” which are beyond the control of the criminal justice system, may be particular to the individual witness, such as the stress level and ability for the individual to remain calm, or may be coincident to the event, such as low lighting or poor weather; a second set of variables, those practices and procedures for eyewitness identification used by law enforcement, or “system variables,” which offer the best opportunity to improve the way eyewitnesses present their memories for an event of an offender; and in the third part, the challenges of cross-race identification and the related tendency of human memory to operate categorically. Part IV continues the discussion of the key variables that affect eyewitness identification accuracy, focusing on exposure duration.

Keywords: Facial Recognition; Exposure Duration; Exposure and Familiarity As Overlapping Processes; Typicality Effect; Cognitive Reliance on Rules; Contextual Cues and Expectations; Triggering Recollections; Exposure Duration and Confidence

Affiliations:  1: John Jay College of Criminal Justice.