Investigating Eyewitness Behaviour and Accuracy using Eyewitness Descriptions

Abstract

While research surrounding eyewitness identification has flourished and continues to expand, there seems to be limited knowledge and research regarding eyewitness description and whether the detail within a given description has an impact on eyewitness accuracy. This paper reviews past literature of verbal overshadowing effect – a phenomenon that describes the act of verbally describing an item (a face, an event) will impair future memory and recognition of that item. Research surrounding verbal overshadowing effect has shown benefits such as improved performance during lineup identification while other research has illustrated weakened memory and recollection. With that said, this paper conducts a study that reviews real life eyewitness descriptions from Austin Police Department and extrapolates its data. Our study serves to provide clarity and a more in-depth understanding of what type of descriptors eyewitnesses provide and if the level of detail helps performance in lineup identification.  

Keywords— Eyewitness Identification, Forensic Psychology, Verbal Overshadowing Effect