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Overhearing the Planning of A Crime: Do Adults Outperform Children As Earwitnesses?

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Abstract

This study examined the reliability of earwitnesses using an ecologically realistic experimental set-up. A total of 282 participants, distributed over three age-groups (7–9 vs. 11–13 year olds vs. adults), were exposed to an unfamiliar voice for 40 seconds. After a two week delay, they were presented with a 7-voice lineup. Half of the participants were exposed to a target-present lineup (TP), and the other half to a target-absent lineup (TA). For both types of lineups the participants performed poorly. In the TP-condition only the 11–13-year olds (with 27% correct identifications) performed above chance level. Furthermore, in the TA-condition all age-groups showed a high willingness to make an identification (overall mean = 53%). For both groups of children, voice identification co-varied significantly with speaking rate and pitch level, as did pitch variation for the youngest children. Neither factor correlated significantly with the adults’ identifications.

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Notes

  1. http://www.bmi.bund.de/cae/servlet/contentblob/541740/publicationFile/26704/PKS2008.pdf

  2. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb1706.pdf

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 500, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Lisa Öhman & Pär Anders Granhag

  2. Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Anders Eriksson

Authors
  1. Lisa Öhman
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  2. Anders Eriksson
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  3. Pär Anders Granhag
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa Öhman.

Additional information

This research was supported by a grant from the Crime victim fund (grant no. 03347/2007) given to Anders Eriksson.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Hello!

I have told you not to call me under any circumstances,

the phone might be tapped!

We need to end this conversation as soon as possible.

By the way, you know what happened to Robert, huh?

Listen; if you continue like this you will ruin everything you IDIOT!

Anyway, we are still going to meet where we said

and make sure that you bring the stuff

and remember our three rules.

We will share the loot equally,

we run to our hiding places directly after the heist,

if you get caught, don’t say ANYTHING.

Okay, good luck and take it easy!

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Öhman, L., Eriksson, A. & Granhag, P.A. Overhearing the Planning of A Crime: Do Adults Outperform Children As Earwitnesses?. J Police Crim Psych 26, 118–127 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-010-9076-5

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