Does Eyewitness Guess or Recognize? Bootstrapping Face and Object Identification Accuracy

The purpose of the study is to determine whether the eyewitness identification can be regarded as a reliable source of information in a police investigation. In light of the many cases of eyewitness misidentifications, it seems reasonable to determine not only what class of objects is more likely to be actually recognized, but also is the level of accuracy sufficient enough to be a solid base for an investigation or a court case. To answer the questions a two-step experiment was designed and performed. At the first stage of the study, 71 participants watched a short video clip, and a week later they were asked to identify persons and the objects that appeared in the film. The participants’ rate of face identification success was 55%, while in the case of objects it was only 28%. Bootstrap estimation was used to determine if those numbers differ from random, and as a result whether they should be considered as a result of an accidental hit. The analysis showed that in the case of objects identification the success rate is within the bounds of randomness, while face identification exceeds it. It can be concluded that unlike faces, objects are more likely guessed than recognized.

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