Do Sober Eyewitnesses Outperform Alcohol Intoxicated Eyewitnesses in a Lineup?

• Although alcohol intoxicated eyewitnesses are common, there are only a few studies in the area. The aim of the current study is to investigate how different doses of alcohol affect eyewitness lineup identification performance. The participants (N = 123) were randomly assigned to a 3 [Beverage: control (0.0 g/kg ethanol) vs. lower (0.4 g/kg ethanol) vs. higher alcohol dose (0.7 g(kg ethanol)] X 2 (Lineup: target-present vs. target-absent) between-subject design. Participants consumed two glasses of beverage at an even pace for 15 minutes. Five minutes after consumption the participants witnessed a film depicting a staged kidnapping. Seven days later, the participants returned to the laboratory and were asked to identify the culprit in a simultaneous lineup. The result showed that overall, the participants performed better than chance; however, their lineup performance was poor. There were no significant effects of alcohol intoxication with respect to performance, neither in target-present nor target-absent lineups. The study's results suggest that eyewitnesses who have consumed a lower (0.4 g/kg ethanol) or a higher (0.7 g/kg ethanol) dose of alcohol perform at the same level as sober eyewitnesses in a lineup. The results are discussed in relation to the alcohol myopia theory and suggestions for future research are made.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

alcohol intoxicated

eyewitness memory

person identification

lineup

alcohol myopia theory

identification accuracy

memory

gender

myopia

witnesses

attention

moderate

realism

faces

performance

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)