INTERVIEWING WITNESSES

Recognising Faces Detecting Lies Top-down Typology (FBI) Factors Affecting Identification Interrogation Techniques Bottom-up Approach (Canter) Cognitive Interview False Confessions Case Study (Railway Rapist)

STARTER – A VISUAL ILLUSION

LEARNING OBJECTIVE – RECOGNISING FACES At the end of this lesson you should be able to: Describe and discuss theory and research surrounding face recognition within forensic psychology.

WHAT IS AN E-FIT? Computerised method of synthesising images to produce facial composites of wanted criminals based on eyewitness descriptions

FACIAL FEATURES INTERNAL FEATURES (familiar faces) EXTERNAL FEATURES (unfamiliar faces)

FACTORS AFFECTING FACE RECOGNITION Area of cognitive psychology (perception / memory) Innate ability – recognition of mother’s face / voice Familiarity of face Accuracy of certain facial features (on E-Fit) Context of viewing of face e.g. level of illumination; movement of target Characteristics of witness (e.g. age, ethnicity) Nature of offence e.g. level of violence BRUCE ET AL (1988)

HOLISTIC MODEL OF FACE RECOGNITION Structurally Encoded: A representation (schema) of the face is created Face Recognition Unit (FRU): Each familiar face has a FRU containing structural information about that face Person Identity Node (PIN): Information about the person is activated e.g. occupation, interests etc MAY NOT BE ACTIVATED It’s Barack Obama! Name generation: The individual’s name is produced; this is stored separately from other information about them

Can you spot the three criminal faces?

PROBLEMS / ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH FACE RECOGNITION Expectations / stereotypes (Duncan, 1976) Halo effect Unconscious transference (Donald Thompson case) Limitations of technology - exposure mode (static; expressionless) - facial morphing (p27) Errors in police procedure (p25) Use of CCTV

PLENARY – RECOGNISING FACES Three things you have learnt about recognising faces…