Faculty Publications
Pc_Eyewitness: A Computerized Framework For The Administration And Practical Application Of Research In Eyewitness Psychology
Document Type
Conference
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Behavior Research Methods
Volume
37
Issue
2
First Page
324
Last Page
334
Abstract
Eyewitness identification evidence is an important aspect of our legal system. Society relies on witnesses to identify suspects whom they have observed during the commission of a crime. Because a witness has only a mental representation of the individual he or she observed, law enforcement must rely on verbal descriptions and identification procedures to document eyewitness evidence. The present article introduces and details a computer program, referred to as PC_Eyewitness (PCE), which can be used in laboratories to conduct research on eyewitness memory. PCE is a modular program written in Visual Basic 6.0 that allows a researcher to present stimuli to a participant, to conduct distractor tasks, to elicit verbal descriptors regarding a target individual, and to present a lineup for the participant to provide an identification response. To illustrate the versatility of the program, several classic studies in the eyewitness literature are recreated in the context of PCE. The program is also shown to have applications in the conduct of field research and for use by law enforcement to administer lineups in everyday practice. PCE is distributed at no cost. Copyright 2005 Psychonomic Society, Inc.
Department
Department of Psychology
Original Publication Date
1-1-2005
DOI of published version
10.3758/BF03192700
Recommended Citation
MacLin, Otto H.; Meissner, Christian A.; and Zimmerman, Laura A., "Pc_Eyewitness: A Computerized Framework For The Administration And Practical Application Of Research In Eyewitness Psychology" (2005). Faculty Publications. 3011.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/3011