In a new study, published in the Psychological Science journal, Neil Brewer of Flinders University and his team discovered a new type of lineup that produced identifications 20 to 30 percent more accurate than conventional lineups.
The new lineup, based on “deadline confidence judgments,” presents witnesses with photos one at a time and asks them to rate how confident they are that the person in the photo is the perpetrator. Researchers also forced the witnesses to make decisions very quickly without a lot of time to think about their assessments.
Brewer explained, “A weakness of the traditional test lies in the fact that it requires a witness to make a single ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision about a lineup, with plenty of time to reflect on their decision.” The new lineup technique eliminates a number of external factors such as constraints on attention, unintentional social cues, and pressure associated with picking the right person. With deadline confidence judgments, the witness does not have to provide a black and white, yes or no answer.
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