The impact of weapons and unusual objects on the construction of facial composites

Authors: Erickson, W.B., Brown, C., Portch, E., Lampinen, J.M., Marsh, J.E., Fodarella, C., Petkovic, A., Coultas, C., Newby, A., Date, L., Hancock, P.J.B., Frowd, C.D.

Journal: Psychology Crime and Law

Publication Date: 01/01/2024

Volume: 30

Issue: 3

Pages: 207-228

eISSN: 1477-2744

ISSN: 1068-316X

DOI: 10.1080/1068316X.2022.2079643

Abstract:

The presence of a weapon in the perpetration of a crime can impede an observer’s ability to describe and/or recognise the person responsible. In the current experiment, we explore whether weapons when present at encoding of a target identity interfere with the construction of a facial composite. Participants encoded an unfamiliar target face seen either on its own or paired with a knife. Encoding duration (10 or 30 s) was also manipulated. The following day, participants recalled the face and constructed a composite of it using a holistic system (EvoFIT). Correct naming of the participants’ composites was found to reduce reliably when target faces were paired with the weapon at 10 s but not at 30 s. These data suggest that the presence of a weapon reduces the effectiveness of facial composites following a short encoding duration. Implications for theory and police practice are discussed.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/37085/

Source: Scopus