%0 Journal Article
%T The Effect of Facial Composite Construction on Eyewitness Identification Accuracy in an Ecologically Valid Paradigm
%A Annelies Vredeveldt
%A Graham E. Pike
%A Jim Turner
%A Nicola A. Brace
%J Criminal Justice and Behavior
%@ 1552-3594
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0093854818811376
%X Previous research has produced equivocal results with regard to whether facial composite creation affects subsequent eyewitness identification accuracy, but the most widely publicized view is that creating a composite impairs the ability to later recognize the perpetrator from a line-up. In our first experiment, we examined this effect using several ecologically valid elements including a live staged crime, trained police officers, and a long delay between construction and identification, albeit with only a short delay between crime and composite construction. Composite construction did not significantly affect line-up identification accuracy. Experiment 2 replicated this result using a laboratory-based design and sequential line-up task, eliminating the possibly confounding effect of differential levels of motivation and relative judgments. Taken together, the experiments suggest composite creation may not negatively impact subsequent line-up accuracy, regardless of whether an ecologically valid method or more standard laboratory testing was used
%K criminal justice system
%K decision-making
%K memory
%K police
%K psychology
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0093854818811376