As the potential pool of elder witnesses continues to expand with the aging U.S. population, the age group referred to in the literature as older adults or seniors has become of greater interest to researchers. The group typically comprises healthy, active members of the community falling into the 60- to 80-year age band. Older eyewitnesses
Criminal cases often hinge on the testimony of eyewitnesses; sometimes those eyewitnesses are police officers. Police eyewitnesses perform the same tasks as civilian eyewitnesses: They provide descriptions to police officers during interviews, attempt to identify perpetrators from lineups, and provide testimony during court trials. Laboratory research, along with evidence from actual court cases, has shown
The ability to accurately recognize others is important to everyone, particularly because important social, personal, physical, and economic resources are uniquely associated with individual persons. The recognition training that most people experience comes with everyday social interaction, containing the incentives within their social environment. The ecology of personal recognition and the social-cognitive processes through which
The role of an eyewitness can be extremely important in the legal system, as eyewitness testimony and eyewitness identifications play a major role in the prosecution of a criminal defendant. Often the courts are left to rely solely on an eyewitness because there is no other physical evidence. This leaves the jury to rely on