Criminology Research Council grant ; (23/81)
The research program focused on three areas:
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Perceptual and memory demands and capactities of witnesses with particular reference to identification. There were three different aspects of identification researched: the development of computer software and hardware to portray a wanted person, the effect of context, age, and retention interval on recognition, and a comparison of live line-up v. photo displays.
Computer drawn faces (Compufit) involves the development of computer graphics to enable life-like representation of persons; this method of representation allows accurate portrayal of gestures, colour and movement. Reasonable representations in black and white have been achieved, and this has later been extended to coloured representations.
It was found that retention interval had minimal effect on identification of target persons but there was an interaction with context and retention interval with respect to false identifications - the longer the retention interval the greater the false identifications. It was also found that identification from live line-ups was more accurate than from photo displays.
- Perceptual and memory difficulties of jurors. In a series of experiments 'jurors' listened to or read details about another person. Sometimes 'jurors' were instructed to forget certain details. it was found that extremely biased statements could be ignored but not moderately biased ones.
- Age of criminal responsibility. It was concluded from a view of the psychological literature that children's behaviour undergoes qualitative changes at 5, 12 and 15 and a cut-off point at any of these ages could be justified.
This research resulted in the following published and unpublished papers:
Publications
- Thomson, D.M. (1984), 'Toward a more efficient judicial system - observations of an experiment psychologist', in M. Nixon (ed.), Issues in Psychological Practice, Longmans.
- Thomson, D.M. (in press), 'Psychological fiction in the court room: And they did not live happily ever after', in G. Eames (ed.), Criminal Law Advocacy.
- Thomson, D.M. and Watson, W. (1984), 'In search of the psychological correlates of criminal responsibility: fool's errand or enlightened approach', in R. Cummins and Z. Burgess (eds), Age of Criminal Responsibility in Children, Australian Psychological Society, Melbourne.
Unpublished papers
- Thomson, D.M., 'Context effects in recognition memory: develomental aspects', paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Conference, Deakin University, 18-20 May 1984.
- Topley, M. and Thomson, D.M., 'Forgetting in a person impression formation task', paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Conference, Deakin University, 18-20 May 1984.
- Turnbull, D.C. and Thomson, D.M., 'Eye witness testimony: photographic vs lineups', paper presented at the Experimental Psychology Conference, Deakin University, 18-20 May 1984.