Signal Detection Theory and Eyewitness Memory

信号检测理论和目击者记忆

• 批准号: 1155248
• 负责人: John Wixted
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-03-15 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1155248&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Signal; Detection; Theory; Eyewitness; Memory

The purpose of the proposed research is to link a longstanding framework for understanding how recognition memory decisions are made to the forensically relevant question of how witnesses make a recognition memory decision when faced with a lineup. In the field of experimental psychology, our understanding of how recognition memory decisions are made has been effectively guided by signal-detection theory since Egan's (1958) seminal report was published more than 50 years ago. By contrast, in the applied literature, signal-detection-based efforts to understand decision-making on recognition memory tasks are virtually nonexistent. The wide chasm separating experimental and applied investigations of recognition memory is surprising because issues that may be informed by signal-detection theory (e.g., the relationship between confidence and accuracy) are of considerable interest in both fields. In the applied literature, it has been repeatedly noted that signal-detection theory could inform eyewitness memory but, to date, no signal-detection model of lineup-based recognition memory has been seriously pursued. The goal of the proposed research is to produce a simple signal-detection framework that will be useful for helping to understand a variety of empirical phenomena that have been investigated in the applied literature, including the relationship between confidence and accuracy. Our strategy will be to test the viability of a signal-detection-based model of eyewitness memory using tasks that are in some ways similar to standard list-memory tasks (e.g., each subject studies a list of items) but that have been modified to be more forensically relevant (e.g., the stimuli will consist of faces, and the recognition tests will involve lineups). After testing and developing a simple signal-detection model using those relatively convenient laboratory procedures, we plan to then test the model using more forensically relevant methods that are commonly used in the applied literature (e.g., where each subject is drawn from a diverse population, views one simulated crime, and provides one recognition decision). The results should help scientists to better inform policymakers about how to improve police lineup procedures.

拟议的研究的目的是链接一个长期的框架，了解如何识别记忆的决定是由法医相关的问题，证人如何识别记忆的决定时，面对阵容。在实验心理学领域，自从埃根（1958）的开创性报告发表以来，我们对识别记忆决策是如何做出的理解一直受到信号检测理论的有效指导。相比之下，在应用文献中，信号检测为基础的努力，以了解决策识别记忆任务几乎是不存在的。识别记忆的实验研究和应用研究之间的巨大鸿沟令人惊讶，因为信号检测理论可能揭示的问题（例如，置信度和准确度之间的关系）在这两个领域中都是相当令人感兴趣的。在应用文献中，人们一再指出，信号检测理论可以告知目击者的记忆，但迄今为止，没有信号检测模型的列队识别记忆已被认真追求。拟议的研究的目标是产生一个简单的信号检测框架，这将有助于理解各种经验现象，已在应用文献中进行了调查，包括置信度和准确性之间的关系。我们的策略将是使用在某些方面类似于标准列表记忆任务的任务（例如，每个受试者研究项目列表）但是已经被修改为更法医相关（例如，刺激将包括面部，并且识别测试将涉及队列）。在使用这些相对方便的实验室程序测试和开发了一个简单的信号检测模型之后，我们计划使用应用文献中常用的更具法医学相关性的方法（例如，其中每个对象来自不同的群体，观看一个模拟犯罪，并提供一个识别决策）。研究结果应该有助于科学家更好地告知政策制定者如何改善警察列队程序。