Professor Tim Valentine - Research projects

ALCOHOL & EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION

Many crimes are witnesses by people who have been drinking alcohol.  As a result identification evidence is often provided by intoxicated witnesses. However, the effects of alcohol on eyewitness testimony are poorly understood. Laboratory studies have shown that alcohol impairs the ability to form new associations in memory. In contrast, alcohol often has little effect on the ability to identify a perpetrator who is included in a lineup. Testimony, beyond mere identification, is often required because the police need a witness to identify which person present at a crime scene was the perpetrator. A suspect may admit he was present at a crime scene (e.g. at nightclub) but deny involvement in a crime (e.g. an assault).  The aim of this project will be to explore the effect of alcohol on the ability of witnesses to say who did what at a crime scene. The project would be motivated by a theoretical understanding of the effect of alcohol on memory and involve both laboratory and field experiments.

STRESS AND EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION

Victims of crime often experience extreme stress. Subsequently the victim may provide eyewitness identification evidence of a suspect. It is important understand how stress affects eyewitness memory, but for ethical reasons participants in experiments cannot be subjected to a high level stress. In a recent study at Goldsmiths visitors to the Horror Labyrinth at the London Dungeon who reported high state anxiety in the labyrinth provided fewer correct descriptors and were less likely to identify an actor they had encountered in the Labyrinth from a line-up. The aim of a project in this area would be advance our theoretical understanding of the effect of stress on eyewitness memory and the mediating effect of personality characteristics (e.g. sensation seeking). The strategy would be to induce high stress through innovative, ethical methods using applied settings (e.g. theme parks) or virtual reality.