When Eyewitnesses are Also Earwitnesses: Effects on Visual and Voice Identifications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-1993

Department

Psychology

Abstract

In Experiment 1, subjects witnessed a mock crime either visually or both auditorily and visually. A visual lineup was conducted with either a guilty or an innocent suspect present. Identification accuracy of visual-only versus auditory-visual witnesses did not differ, although the diagnosticity ratio for the visual-only condition was more than twice as large. Thus, there was only limited support for auditory information interfering with encoding visual information. In Experiment 2, subjects witnessed a mock crime either auditorily or both auditorily and visually. A voice lineup was conducted with either a guilty or an innocent suspect present. Consistent with Yarmey's (1986) prediction that visual information can interfere with encoding auditory information, guilty-suspect identification was significantly higher in the auditory-only condition.

Publication Title

Basic and Applied Social Psychology

Volume

14

Issue

2

First Page

161

Last Page

170

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