Verbal overshadowing effect and the benefits of eye-closure in audio line- up Roon, Yi Eunkyung, Jo iIIRG 2010 annual conference

Introduction Investigators should ask ear-witnesses to describe details of the offender’s voice before audio line-up.(The England and Wales guidelines on the use of voice identification parades advise, 2003) This advice bears risk to the verbal overshadowing effect which could reduce identification accuracy. In this study we tested whether verbally describing the offender’s voice might induce the VOE and the instruction to a ear-witness to close their eyes during voice identification parade might overcome the VOE and increase the rate of accuracy.

Verbal overshadowing effect The impairment of a person’s recognition ability as a result of generating a verbal description TIR : Transfer-inappropriate retrieval hypothesis TIPS : Transfer-inappropriate processing shift hypothesis Perfect and his colleagues (2002) reported a significant effect of verbalization on voice recognition. They used same statement in target and foil voices.

Eye-Closure Eye-closure aids recall of both visual and auditory details, while suppressing recall of incorrect details.(Wagstaff et al, 2004; Perfect et al, 2008) Eye-closure Reduces distraction Influences contextual retrieval Decreases transfer- inappropriate processing shift

Research Questions Is VOE induced on audio line-up that using different statements in stimulus, target and foil voices? Can eye-closure instruction make the accuracy rate higher and help overcome the VOE in audio line-up?

Experiment design Verbal description Control Eye-Closure instruction 13 None instruction 24

Materials Video clipDistracterAudio Line-up 8 voice samples saying about their hobby. Target present. Cross-word puzzle

Procedure Cover story : The experiment on the improvement of the eye- witness’s memory All participants looked the same crime scene video clip. Participants were asked to resolve cross-word puzzle for 5 minutes. Then they performed other task for manipulation. - condition 1,2: describe the feature of offender’s voice - condition 3,4: write a composition using 9 words Audio line-up - condition 1,3: eye-closure - condition 2,4: none instruction

Result (VOE) Control group Verbal description correctincorrect No effect of VOE (1)=.29, p>.05

Result (Eye-closure) None instruction Eye-closure correctincorrect Significant effect of eye-closure (1)= 4.17, p<.05 No difference between the confidences of eye- closure(M=3.78) and none instruction(M=3.79) t(85)=-.03, p>.05

Result (VOE in eye-closure) Control group Verbal description correctincorrect No effect of VOE (1)=.24, p>.05

Result (VOE in none instruction) Control group Verbal description correctincorrect No effect of VOE (1)=.16, p>.05

Summary of findings There would be no VOE in audio line-up when we use different statements in stimulus and line-up process. Eye-closure instruction in audio line-up process would increase the rate of accuracy.

discussion It is necessary to conduct a replication comparing the accuracy rate of audio line-up between using same contents of statements and different contents. Is female influenced more than male by eye-closure? female male No instruction Eye-closure correctincorrectcorrectincorrect

References Brand, A.(2004). A Web Experiment Based Enquiry into the Verbal Overshadowing Effect. The-sis submitted to Cardiff University for the Degree of Ph. D. Clare, J., Lewandowsky, S. (2004). Verbalizing Facial Memory: Criterion Effects in Verbal Overshadowing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, No. 4, Hunt, L. J., & Harris, C. M. (2002). Verbal overshadowing in voice recognition. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 16, Meissner, C. A., Memon, A. (2002). Verbal overshadowing: A Special Issue Exploring Theoretical and Applied Issues. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 16, Mitchell, Helen F. & MacDonald, Raymond A. R. (2009). Linguistic limitations of describing sound: Is talking about music like dancing about architecture? International Symposium on Performance Science Perfect, T. J., Hunt, L. J., & Harris, C. M. (2002). Verbal overshadowing in voice recognition. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 16, Perfect, T. J., Wagstaff, G. F., Moore, D., Andrews, B., Cleveland, V. Newcombe, S., Brisbane, K- A. & Brown, L. (2008), How can we help witnesses remember more? It's an (eyes) open and shut case. Law and Human Behavior, in press Wagstaff, G. F., Brunas-Wagstaff, J. Cole, J., Knapton, L., Winterbottom, J. Crean, V. & Wheatcroft, J. (2004). Facilitating memory with hypnosis, focused meditation and eye closure. International journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 52,