Browsing by Person "Valentine, Tim"

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Are police video identifications fair to African-Caribbean suspects?
(2003) Valentine, Tim; Harris, Niobe; Piera, Anna Colom; Darling, Stephen
Analysis of lineups from criminal cases has demonstrated that video technology can produce lineups that are less biased against the suspect than live lineups, and that White suspects are less likely to be identified from a live lineup than suspects of other ethnic origins. The present study assessed the fairness of video lineups of White Europeans and of African-Caribbeans used in actual criminal cases. African-Caribbean and White European participants selected the suspect from each lineup on the basis of the original witness description of the culprit. There was no reliable difference in the fairness of video lineups as a function of the ethnic origin of the lineup members. It is concluded that, within the context of the video system studied, use of video can provide a safeguard against bias against ethnic minorities that may occur in live lineups.
Characteristics of eyewitness identification that predict the outcome of real lineups
(2003) Valentine, Tim; Pickering, Alan; Darling, Stephen
Data were analysed from 640 attempts by eyewitnesses to identify the alleged culprit in 314 lineups organised by the Metropolitan Police in London. Characteristics of the witness, the suspect, the witness's opportunity to view the culprit, the crime and the lineup were recorded. Data analysis, using mixed effects multinomial logistic regression, revealed that the suspect was more likely to be identified if the witness is younger than 30, the suspect is a white European (rather than African - Caribbean), the witness gave a detailed description, viewed the culprit for over a minute and made a fast decision at the lineup. None of the explanatory variables were significantly associated with a mistaken identification of a foil. No independent, statistically reliable effects of weapon focus, cross-race identification or of the delay before the identification attempt were observed.
Competitor effects in naming objects and famous faces
(2006) Valentine, Tim; Darling, Stephen
The prior production of an alternative name increases the time taken to name a famous face. For example, naming a picture of the comedy actor ''John Cleese'' by the name of the character he played in the TV series Fawlty Towers (Basil Fawlty)increases the time required to subsequently produce the name ''John Cleese''. This effect has been termed the ''nominal competitor effect''. In contrast prior production of a property associated with a famous person has no effect on naming speed. For example, prior production of the name of the TV series Fawlty Towers does not slow subsequent production of ''John Cleese''. The experiments reported explored analogous effects in object naming. Experiment 1 examined the effects of prior production of an alternative name (e.g., from American English or British English) and a semantic associate on the time taken to name line drawings of objects. It was found that prior production of an alternative name slowed object naming, but prior production of the name of a semantic associate did not. Experiment 2 demonstrated that cueing a specific name (e.g., the British English name) was not a necessary condition for the nominal competitor effect on object naming. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the nominal competitor effect on naming famous faces was also observed under both cued and uncued naming instructions. The data from both object and face naming are interpreted within the terms of current models of speech production.
Do strict rules and moving images increase the reliability of sequential identification procedures?.
(Wiley, 2007) Valentine, Tim; Darling, Stephen; Memon, Amina
Live identification procedures in England and Wales have been replaced by use of video, which provides a sequential presentation of facial images. Sequential presentation of photographs provides some protection to innocent suspects from mistaken identification when used with strict instructions designed to prevent relative judgements (Lindsay, Lea & Fulford, 1991). However, the current procedure in England and Wales is incompatible with these strict instructions. The reported research investigated whether strict instructions would enhance the reliability of identification from video. The effect of using moving rather than still video clips was also investigated. Participants witnessed a live staged incident, and attempted to identify the culprit later from police video lineups, which were run double-blind. Strict instructions produced a significantly lower rate of correct identifications in culprit present lineups, but did not significantly reduce the rate of mistaken identification in culprit absent lineups. Moving images yielded fewer mistaken identifications in culprit absent lineups.
How can psychological science enhance the effectiveness of identification procedures? An international comparison.
(2007) Valentine, Tim; Darling, Stephen; Memon, Amina
The reliability of eyewitness identification has attracted concern from the legal profession in England for at least 100 years. In 1904 a committee of enquiry was established to investigate the trials of Adolf Beck. Incredibly, on two separate occasions Adolf Beck was wrongly convicted on the basis of mistaken eyewitness identification. In both trials, multiple eyewitnesses identified Beck as a confidence trickster who stole jewellery from them. The crimes were subsequently found to have been committed by William Wyatt. The 1904 Committee of enquiry led directly to the establishment of a Court of Appeal.2
Selection of lineup foils in operational contexts
(2008-05) Darling, Stephen; Valentine, Tim; Memon, Amina
It has been argued (Luus & Wells, 1991) that matching lineup foils to the description of the culprit, rather than the appearance of the suspect, brings benefits to witness performance on identification tasks, in particular by increasing the rate of correct identifications of the culprit. Recently, live identification procedures in the United Kingdom have been replaced by use of video. The reported research investigated whether use of description matching would improve lineup performance when implemented using this new video based system in an ecologically valid experiment. The effect of using moving rather than still video clips was also investigated. Participants witnessed a live staged incident, and attempted to identify the culprit later from police video lineups. Neither use of a description-matching strategy to select foils nor use of moving images produced a reliable improvement in performance for culprit present (CP) or culprit absent (CA) lineups. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The categorical structure of semantic memory for famous people: a new approach using release from proactive interference
(2005) Darling, Stephen; Valentine, Tim
Memory for familiar people is essential to understand their identity and guide social interaction. Nevertheless, we know surprisingly little about the structure of such memory. Previous research has assumed that semantic memory for people has a categorical structure, but recently it was proposed that memory for people consists only of associations and lacks any categorical structure. Four experiments are reported that use a novel approach by adapting the 'release from proactive interference' (RPI) methodology for use with lists of famous names. Proactive interference occurs when items presented on successive trials are drawn from the same category. Recall can improve following a change to a different category. Sets of names were selected relating to aspects previously demonstrated, on the basis of reaction time data, to form a category (occupation) and a property (nationality) of celebrities (Johnston & Bruce, 1990). RPI was observed for a change at both levels of representation but was only present without explicitly cueing the change of set when the stimuli differed at the category level. At the property level, RPI was only evident when change of set was explicitly cued. RPI was absent at the set change in a novel, ad hoc distinction suggesting that the effect reflected the underlying memory structure. q 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Why are average faces attractive? The effect of view and averageness on the attractiveness of female faces
(2004) Valentine, Tim; Darling, Stephen; Donnelly, Mary
Images of faces manipulated to make their shapes closer to the average are perceived as more attractive.The influences of symmetry and averageness are often confounded in studies based on full-face views of faces. Two experiments are reported that compared the effect of manipulating the averageness of female faces in profile and full-face views. Use of a profile view allows a face to be morphed- toward an average shape without creating an image that becomes more symmetrical. Faces morphed toward the average were perceived as more attractive in both views, but the effect was significantly stronger for full-face views. Both full-face and profile views morphed away from the average shape were perceived as less attractive. It is concluded that the effect of averageness is independent of any effect of symmetry on the perceived attractiveness of female faces.