Authors
Emma Portch, Charity Brown, Cristina Fodarella, Elizabeth Jackson, Peter J B Hancock, Colin G Tredoux, Michael B Lewis, Chang Hong Liu, John E Marsh, William Blake Erickson, Nicholas Philip Mitchell, Chiara Fasching, Linda Tran, Ellena Wood, Elaine A Damin, Leonie Robertshaw, James Michael Lampinen, Louisa Date, Spike Joyce, Leonie Brooks, Ariell Farrow, Tom Barnes, Charlie D Frowd
Published in
Ergonomics. Pages 1-24. Jul 08, 2025. Epub Jul 08, 2025.
Abstract
Memory for facial features deteriorates over time, diminishing one's ability to construct an accurate visual likeness of a face (i.e. a facial composite). In Experiment 1, we investigated how retention interval impacts composite construction. Participants recalled an unfamiliar face during a Cognitive Interview (CI) and constructed a feature composite across four post-encoding retention intervals. Correct composite naming declined sharply after a 3-4 hour retention interval, remained stable at two days, and dropped to floor-level after one week. Experiments 2-4 examined how composite effectiveness was influenced by the incorporation of two factors: (a) a novel, self-administered written face-recall attempt, conducted 3-4 hours after encoding, and (b) a standard or modified holistic recall elicited immediately before construction. Participant-witnesses created more identifiable likenesses when early recall was invited, suggesting that this intervention consolidated and enhanced access to facial-feature information. The addition of a character-based interview further improved both feature and holistic composites.
PMID:
40627339
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Jul 2025.
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