A stab in the dark: the distance threshold of target identification in low light

Nyman, T. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-2528, Antfolk, J., Lampinen, J. M., Tuomisto, M., Kaakinen, J. K., Korkman, J. and Santtila, P. (2019) A stab in the dark: the distance threshold of target identification in low light. Cogent Psychology, 6 (1). 1632047. ISSN 2331-1908 doi: 10.1080/23311908.2019.1632047

Abstract/Summary

Prior research shows that increased distance and decreased light result in less correct eyewitness identifications, yet their combined effect is not well understood. The aim of the present study was to establish the maximum distance in low lux (lx) where an eyewitness’s later identification in target present (TP) line-ups is no longer reliable. We randomized participants (N = 178) into one of three lx conditions (high:300 lx, medium:10 lx, low:0.7 lx) and presented them with eight targets (one at a time) at eight separate distances (6–20 m). Each target-presentation was followed by an 8-person simultaneous TP line-up (i.e., there was a .125 probability of choosing the target correctly by chance). We found that the rate of correct TP identifications decreased with increased distance in all lx conditions. At 20 m the rate of correct TP identifications was .53 in the high lx condition, .41 in the medium lx condition and .11 in the low lx condition. The generalizability of our findings to overall eyewitness accuracy is limited by the exclusion of target absent line-ups, yet our findings show that reliable and correct target present identifications are very unlikely following observations made in low lighting (0.7 lx) at 20 m.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/118718
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/23311908.2019.1632047
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
Publisher	Taylor and Francis
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