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The Value of Whole-Face Procedures for the Construction and Naming of Identifiable Likenesses for Recall-Based Methods of Facial-Composite Construction.

Frowd, C. D., Portch, E., Estudillo, A. J., Ford, C. J., Purcell, A., Pitchford, M. and Brown, C., 2025. The Value of Whole-Face Procedures for the Construction and Naming of Identifiable Likenesses for Recall-Based Methods of Facial-Composite Construction. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 39 (4), e70015.

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DOI: 10.1002/acp.70015

Abstract

Traditional methods of facial-composite construction rely on an eyewitness recalling features of an offender's face. We assess the value of the addition of a trait–recall mnemonic to a cognitive-type interview, and perceptually stretching presented composites, to aid image recognition. Participant-constructors intentionally or incidentally encoded a target face, were interviewed about its facial features 3–4 h or 2 days later, made a series of trait attributions (or not) about the face and constructed a feature-based composite. Regardless of encoding manipulation, faces constructed after 3–4 h were twice as likely to be correctly named (cf. after 2 days) both when the trait–recall mnemonic was applied and composites were viewed stretched. Thus, the research indicates that benefit should be afforded when trait–recall mnemonics are employed for feature composites constructed on the same day as the crime and when composites are presented to potential recognisers with instruction to view the face as a perceptual stretch.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:0888-4080
Uncontrolled Keywords:facial composite; perceptual stretch; retention interval; trait attribution
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:41187
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:16 Jul 2025 07:19
Last Modified:16 Jul 2025 07:19

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