Estimating the impact of estimator variables on eyewitness identification: A fruitful marriage of practical problem solving and psychological theorizing

Abstract

Abstract The trier of fact has the practical problem of trying to estimate the impact of several estimator variables on the reliability of an eyewitness's identification. Until relatively recently, psychologists were either unsure as to the direction and magnitude of effect on eyewitness memory of certain estimator variables (e.g. heightened stress) or could offer the trier of fact only vague empirical generalizations (e.g. forgetting increases over time, most rapidly at first). At present, however, a number of meta‐analytic reviews of the effects of certain estimator variables have accumulated, as have a number of theoretical analyses of their operation in the eyewitness identification context, theoretical treatments resulting from fruitful application of theories from cognitive psychology and behavioural neuroscience. The combined accumulations are now sufficient to constitute a ‘critical mass’ of knowledge, thereby permitting the trier of fact to gain more precise information regarding the impact of these estimator variables on the fidelity of eyewitness report. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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