Absolute and Relative Decision Processes in Eyewitness Identification

A prominent and long-standing theory of eyewitness identification decision making distinguishes between absolute judgments, based on the lineup members' match to the witness's memory of the perpetrator, versus relative judgments, based on match values relative to other lineup members. This distinction was implemented in a computational model and simulations showed that the model predicts an accuracy advantage for absolute judgments over relative judgments under some conditions. The present experiment tested this prediction by evaluating the accuracy of witnesses instructed to use relative or absolute rules. Contrary to predictions, the overall analysis did not show an absolute advantage. Additional exploratory analyses showed a relative advantage when the suspect was surrounded by high-similarity foils. These results are consistent with a model that assumes that side-by-side comparisons of lineup members increase diagnostic accuracy by allowing witnesses to give greater weight to more diagnostic features and less weight to less diagnostic features.     

成人与幼儿面部表情注意偏好的眼动研究

本研究选取45名3-5岁幼儿和39名大学本科生作为被试。实验材料为恐惧、愤怒、悲伤、惊讶和高兴五种面部表情图片。用Tobbi眼动仪记录被试观察表情图片时的眼动轨迹。结果发现：（1）成人偏好高兴表情,并在高兴表情上的注视时间和次数显著大于幼儿;（2）成人偏好注视眼部,幼儿偏好注视嘴部。结果表明,面部表情注意偏好的发展具有社会依存性,趋向于偏好积极情绪,这种发展变化与面部表情部位的注意偏好相关。     

Facial Expressions and the Ability to Recognize Emotions from the Eyes or Mouth: A Comparison Between Children and Adults

The authors sought to contribute to the literature on the ability to recognize anger, happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, and neutral emotions from facial information. They aimed to investigate if—regardless of age—this pattern changes. More specifically, the present study aimed to compare the difference between the performance of adults and 6- to 7-year-old children in detecting emotions from the whole face and a specific face region, namely the eyes and mouth. The findings seem to indicate that, for both groups, recognizing disgust, happiness, and surprise is facilitated when pictures represent the whole face. However, with regard to a specific region, a prevalence for children was not found between the eyes and mouth. Meanwhile, for adults, would seem to detect a greater role of the eye region. Finally, regarding the differences in the performance of emotions recognition, adults are better only in a few cases, whereas children are better in recognizing anger from the mouth.     

A Focus on Neglect: Comparing the Characteristics of Children and Parents in Cases of Neglect,Abuse, and Non-CAN (Child Abuse and Neglect) in Israeli Rulings on Termination of Parental Rights

This study attempts to expand the knowledge base about neglect by comparing the characteristics of children and parents involved in termination of parental rights proceedings in the Israeli legal system. Cases were classified as neglect (72.7%), abuse (19%) or non-child abuse or neglect (non-CAN; 8%) and were compared on a range of variables. The results show that neglected children have the most developmental problems, and generally come from single-parent families, compared to abused children, who suffer the most mental health problems and come from 2-parent families. Finally, neglect is associated with the mother’s history of drug abuse, and abuse is associated with the father’s drug abuse and criminal record. In non-CAN cases, the courts criticize the Child Protective Service more than in neglect and abuse cases. Implications of the findings for social work practice as well as future research directions are discussed.