Contextual information renders experts vulnerable to making erroneous identifications

We investigated whether experts can objectively focus on feature information in fingerprints without being misled by extraneous information, such as context. We took fingerprints that have previously been examined and assessed by latent print experts to make positive identification of suspects. Then...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inForensic science international Vol. 156; no. 1; pp. 74 - 78
Main Authors Dror, Itiel E., Charlton, David, Péron, Ailsa E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 06.01.2006
Elsevier
The Lancet Publishing Group, a division of Elsevier Science Ltd
Elsevier Limited
Subjects
Bias
Biological and medical sciences
Biometric identification
Biometrics
Cognition
Contextual influence
Decision Making
Dermatoglyphics
Erroneous identification
Evidence
Evidence, Expert
Evidence, Scientific
Experts
Extraneous information
Fingerprints
Forensic medicine
Forensic sciences
General aspects
Humans
Identification and classification
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Judgment
Medical sciences
Psychology
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Studies
Fingerprints
Psychology
Bias
Extraneous information
Contextual influence
Cognition
Erroneous identification
Fingerprint
Forensic science
Legal medicine
Expert
Forensic aspect
Identification
Vulnerability
Information
Fingerprint method
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Summary:We investigated whether experts can objectively focus on feature information in fingerprints without being misled by extraneous information, such as context. We took fingerprints that have previously been examined and assessed by latent print experts to make positive identification of suspects. Then we presented these same fingerprints again, to the same experts, but gave a context that suggested that they were a no-match, and hence the suspects could not be identified. Within this new context, most of the fingerprint experts made different judgements, thus contradicting their own previous identification decisions. Cognitive aspects involved in biometric identification can explain why experts are vulnerable to make erroneous identifications.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0379-0738
1872-6283
DOI:10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.10.017