Matching the faces of robbers captured on video

Recent research has shown that unfamiliar face matching from both high‐ and low‐quality closed circuit television video images to photographs is highly prone to error, even when viewpoint and expression are matched as closely as possible. The current experiments made use of a filmed, staged reconstruction of a bank raid that was captured on CCTV and on high‐quality broadcasting video. Experiment 1 tested the ability of members of the public to match actors captured on CCTV to photo‐spreads containing similar‐looking distractors. Further experiments, each testing different groups of subjects, investigated matching ability using both high‐quality photographs (Experiment 2) and broadcast‐quality video material (Experiment 3). Experiment 3 also investigated the effect of disguising hairstyle, and varied whether or not the target was present in the photo line‐up. The results of these experiments confirm those of previous work, that matching the identity of unfamiliar faces is highly fallible, even when high‐quality footage is used. Experiments 4 and 5 tested matching ability using two‐alternative forced‐choice and single‐item verification tasks. Performance remained highly error‐prone even with the simplest question asked. The legal implications of the results are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Facial Wipes don't Wash: Facial Image Comparison by Video Superimposition Reduces the Accuracy of Face Matching Decisions

In cases of disputed CCTV identification, expert testimony based on the results of analysis by facial image comparison may be presented to the Jury. However, many of the techniques lack empirical data to support their use. Using a within‐participants design, we compared the accuracy of face‐matching decisions when images were presented using a ‘facial wipe’ technique (where one image is superimposed on another and the display gradually ‘wipes’ between the two) with decisions based on static images. Experiment 1 used high‐quality image pairs; Experiment 2 used disguised target images; and Experiment 3 used degraded target images. Across all three experiments, rather than optimising performance, facial wipes reduced accuracy relative to static presentations. Further, there is evidence that video wipes increase false positives and therefore may increase the likelihood that images of two different people will be incorrectly judged to show the same individual.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CCTV Observation: The Effects of Event Type and Instructions on Fixation Behaviour in an Applied Change Blindness Task

Little is known about how observers' scanning strategies affect performance when monitoring events in closed‐circuit television (CCTV) footage. We examined the fixation behaviour of change detectors and non‐detectors monitoring dynamic scenes. One hundred forty‐seven participants observed mock CCTV videos featuring either a mock crime or no crime. Participants were instructed to look for a crime, to look for something unusual or simply to watch the video. In both videos, two of the people depicted switched locations. Eye movements (the number of fixations on the targets and the average length of each fixation on targets) were recorded prior to and during the critical change period. Change detection (24% overall) was unaffected by event type or task instruction. Fixation behaviour differed significantly between the criminal and non‐criminal event conditions. There was no effect of instructions on fixation behaviour. Change detectors fixated for longer on the target directly before the change than did non‐detectors. Although fixation behaviour before change predicted change detection, fixation count and durations during the critical change period did not. These results highlight the potential value of studying fixation behaviour for understanding change blindness during complex, cognitively demanding tasks (e.g. CCTV surveillance). Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification from CCTV: Assessing police super‐recogniser ability to spot faces in a crowd and susceptibility to change blindness

Police worldwide regularly review closed‐circuit television (CCTV) evidence in investigations. This research found that London police experts who work in a full‐time “Super‐Recogniser Unit” and front line police identifiers regularly making suspect identifications from CCTV possessed superior unfamiliar face recognition ability and, with higher levels of confidence, outperformed controls at locating actors in a bespoke Spot the Face in a Crowd Test. Police were also less susceptible to change blindness errors and possessed higher levels of conscientiousness and lower levels of neuroticism and openness. Controls who took part in Spot the Face in a Crowd Test actor familiarisation training outperformed untrained controls, suggesting this exercise might enhance identification of persons of interest in real investigations. This research supports an accumulating body of evidence demonstrating that international police forces may benefit from deploying officers with superior face recognition ability to roles such as CCTV review, as these officers may be the most likely to identify persons of interest.     

Characterising the Personality of the Public Safety Offender and Non‐offender using Decision Trees: The Case of Colombia

The aim of this paper was to create a decision tree (DT) to identify personality profiles of offenders against public safety. A technique meeting this requirement was proposed that uses the C4.5 algorithm to derive decision rules for personality profiling of public safety offenders. The Mini‐Mult test was used to measure the personality profiles of 238 individuals. With the test results as our database, a C4.5 DT was applied to construct rules that classify each profile into one of two groups, those without and those with records of offences against public safety. The model correctly classified 80% of the personality profiles and delivered a set of decision rules for distinguishing the profiles by group, and the principal personality profiles were interpreted. We conclude that DTs are a promising technique for analysing personality profiles by their offender or non‐offender status. Finally, we believe that the development of a classifying model using DT may have practical applications in the Colombian prison system. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The importance of traits and abilities in supervisors' hirability decisions as a function of method of assessment

Past research on the importance of traits and abilities in supervisors' hirability decisions has ignored the influence of the selection method used to derive information about these traits and abilities. In this study, experienced retail store supervisors (N=163) rated job applicant profiles that were described on the Big Five and General Mental Ability (GMA) personality dimensions. Contrary to past studies, the supervisors were also informed about the method of assessment used (paper‐and‐pencil test vs. unstructured interview). Hierarchical linear modelling analyses showed that the importance attached to extraversion and GMA was significantly moderated by the selection method, with extraversion and GMA decreasing in importance when store supervisors knew that scores on extraversion and GMA were derived from a paper‐and‐pencil test as opposed to from an unstructured interview. Store supervisors with more selection‐related experience also attached more importance to GMA. Results are discussed in relation to the practice–science gap and the extant literature on perceptions of selection procedures.     

The Effect of Image Pixelation on Unfamiliar‐Face Matching

Low‐resolution, pixelated images from closed‐circuit television (CCTV) can be used to compare the perpetrators of crime with high‐resolution photographs of potential suspects. The current study investigated the accuracy of person identification under these conditions, by comparing high‐resolution and pixelated photographs of unfamiliar faces in a series of matching tasks. Performance decreased gradually with different levels of pixelation and was close to chance with a horizontal image resolution of only 8 pixels per face (Experiment 1). Matching accuracy could be improved by reducing the size of pixelated faces (Experiment 2) or by varying the size of the to‐be‐compared‐with high‐resolution face image (Experiment 3). In addition, pixelation produced effects that appear to be separable from other factors that might affect matching performance, such as changes in face view (Experiment 4). These findings reaffirm that criminal identifications from CCTV must be treated with caution and provide some basic estimates for identification accuracy with different pixelation levels. This study also highlights potential methods for improving performance in this task. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mrs. Aremac and the Camera: A Response to Ryberg

In a recent article in Res Publica, Jesper Ryberg argues that CCTV can be compared to a little old lady gazing out onto the street below. This article takes issue with the claim that government surveillance can be justified in this manner. Governments have powers and responsibilities that little old ladies lack. Even if CCTV is effective at preventing crime, there may be less intrusive ways of doing so. People have a variety of legitimate interests in privacy, and protection for these is important to their status as free and equal citizens. Consequently, though necessary, effectiveness is insufficient to justify CCTV in a democracy.

CCTV on trial: Matching video images with the defendant in the dock

The experiments reported in this paper investigated simultaneous identity matching of unfamiliar people physically present in person with moving video images typical of that captured by closed circuit television (CCTV). This simulates the decision faced by a jury in court when the identity of somebody caught on CCTV is disputed. Namely, ‘is the defendant in the dock the person depicted in video’? In Experiment 1, the videos depicted medium‐range views of a number of actor ‘culprits’. Experiment 2 used similar quality images taken a year previously, some of which showed the culprits in disguise. Experiment 3 utilised high‐quality close‐up video images. It was consistently found that in both culprit‐present and culprit‐absent videos and in optimal conditions, matching the identity of a person in video can be highly susceptible to error. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Administrative Assumptions in Top‐Down Selection: A Test in Graduate School Admission Decisions

Although top‐down selection is the gold standard for making personnel decisions, several administrative assumptions must be met for it to be effective. We discuss three of these assumptions and test two of them: (1) top applicants will accept an offer, and (2) the time organisations give applicants to consider an offer will not influence the availability of next‐tier applicants. We also examine the effectiveness of top‐down selection by comparing it to an administratively simpler procedure, random selection above a threshold. Using archival admissions data from three university graduate psychology programs, we found that top applicants were less likely to accept an offer; however, waiting time did not influence applicant availability. In comparing the quality of applicants actually selected (with a top‐down procedure) with the quality of applicants selected at random (from above five progressively stringent thresholds), we found that at higher admission thresholds, random selection resulted in better or equal quality applicants as top‐down selection, depending on the criteria. We discuss implications for future research and practice.     

Work Sample Selection Tests and Expected Reduction in Adverse Impact: A Cautionary Note

Almost all book chapters, review articles, and textbooks in the field of personnel selection suggest that work sample tests are associated with lower levels of ethnic group adverse impact than paper‐and‐pencil tests of cognitive ability. However, the empirical literature is heavily dependent on adverse impact estimates obtained from incumbent samples rather than applicant samples. As such, parameter estimates are subject to range restriction from prior selection and on‐the‐job experiences. Further, an emerging consensus in the selection literature indicates that any method of assessment can be associated with high or low levels of adverse impact – depending on the nature of the construct(s) being measured. To begin to examine these issues, we present two recent sets of applicant data from public sector jobs (for a management and entry‐level job, each with technical and interpersonal skill requirements) and show that adverse impact of work sample exams might be more extensive than realized. We discuss the mismatch between what the field of employee selection “knows” and what is said in articles/summaries about work samples. Employers and other practitioners who depend on advice in academic overview articles may be overly optimistic and eventually disappointed by minimal reduction in adverse impact. Implications for workforce diversity and future research needs are also discussed.     

Creating cluster‐specific purchase profiles from point‐of‐sale scanner data and geodemographic clusters: improving category management at a major US grocery chain

In the retail grocery industry, category management is the process of managing categories of products for greater profitability and customer value. Category management is a data‐driven process and, as a result, can benefit from point‐of‐sale (POS) scanner data. This paper describes the results of a one‐year project that shows how to use POS scanner data and geodemographic clusters to improve the practice of category management at Price Chopper, a large US grocery chain. The paper demonstrates how to merge POS scanner data with geodemographic clusters to create detailed purchase profiles that provide valuable information to category managers. It also discusses the trials and tribulations of using scanner data and provides several findings as implications (eg store‐specific promotions should be more effective than chain‐wide promotions for stores servicing a small number of geodemographic clusters with distinct shopping profiles) that supermarket managers can immediately use to improve existing promotional strategies. The paper's contents should be relevant to academicians and practitioners interested in improving the practice of category management in the UK, USA, Western Europe and Australia. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Ritualising the Secular? Inter‐Religious Meetings in the ‘Immanent Frame‘

I take a philosophical approach and seek to address the question of inter‐religious rituals and practices with reference to what Charles Taylor has called ‘the immanent frame.’ Whilst considering the dynamics of inter‐religious or cross‐religious ritual, this article will focus mainly on the idea of rituality occurring in an immanent frame or habitus (Pierre Bourdieu). I will argue that whilst there are specific cultic rituals that need to be negotiated as part of any form of explicit inter‐rituality, there is a larger potential that is suggested by a broader anthropological vision. Moreover, an ‘immanent turn’ by religions may be the positive step towards the joint creation of meaning and practice in the public sphere.     

Navigating the Road Ahead: Public Health Challenges and the Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation

Public health is currently faced with an array of critical challenges and disconnects. Research and evaluation have identified a number of evidence‐based strategies for effecting behavior change at individual, group, organizational, and environmental levels, all of which hold promise for leading to substantial reductions in morbidity and mortality, and increased quality of life. Unfortunately, there is huge variability across the public health system in awareness of the value of using evidence to inform decision making, let alone in capacity to locate, assess, compare, select, justify, adapt, implement, and evaluate evidence‐based strategies, or to participate in building the evidence base for practice‐based innovations. As a result, many communities may not be benefitting from research‐tested and practice‐based strategies that could help them to meet their public health goals more efficiently and effectively. CDC's Interactive Systems Framework for Dissemination and Implementation (ISF), released in 2008, was designed to help close this gap between research and practice. This commentary identifies the ways in which the ISF framework is useful in addressing the research practice gap; revisits the elements of the framework that have continued to guide research and practice in fruitful ways; and highlights areas that need further development to meet current public health challenges. Special Issue: Advances in Bridging Research and Practice Using the Interactive System Framework for Dissemination and Implementation; Guest Editors: Abraham Wandersman, Paul Flaspohler, Catherine A. Lesesne, Richard Puddy; Action Editor: Emilie Phillips Smith     

Recognition Practice Results in a Generalizable Skill in Older Adults: Decreased Intrusion Errors to Novel Objects Belonging to Practiced Categories

Accessing memories is often accompanied by both positive and negative consequences. For example, practice recognizing some visual images held in memory can improve memory for the practiced images and hurt memory for related images (i.e., recognition‐induced forgetting). However, visual stimuli have been shown to improve memory for older adults by decreasing false memories. This suggests that older adults may be immune to recognition‐induced forgetting and that recognition practice may decrease susceptibility to intrusion errors. We first tested the hypothesis that older adults are immune to recognition‐induced forgetting. We found older adults exhibit recognition‐induced forgetting. Next, we tested the hypothesis that recognition practice decreases older adult's rates of intrusion errors. We found lower intrusion errors for novel objects from practiced categories. This represents a generalizable learning effect; practice recognizing a target object (e.g., your pill bottle) improves the rejection of new lures (e.g., identifying the pill bottle that is not yours).Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In‐court versus out‐of‐court testimonies: Children's experiences and adults' assessments

The study examined the effects of different presentation modes on child witnesses' experiences and adults' perception and assessments of the same witnesses. Child witnesses (N = 108) were interviewed about an event that they had either experienced or imagined. Adult mock jurors (N = 240) watched the children's testimonies live, via two‐way closed‐circuit television (CCTV), or via a pre‐recorded video. The results showed that the live observers perceived the children in more positive terms than did the two‐way CCTV observers, who in turn perceived the children in more positive terms than did the video observers. Briefly, it seems as the more proximal the presentation mode, the more positive the observers' perception. Somewhat in contrast to these results, a significantly smaller proportion of the children who testified on video stated that they were nervous, compared to the children who testified live or via two‐way CCTV. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First‐line therapy for post‐traumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of cognitive behavioural therapy and psychodynamic approaches

Background

Despite evidence supporting cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)‐based interventions as the most effective approach for treating post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in randomised control trials, alternative treatment interventions are often used in clinical practice. Psychodynamic (PDT)‐based interventions are one example of such preferred approaches, this is despite comparatively limited available evidence supporting their effectiveness for treating PTSD.

Aims

Existing research exploring effective therapeutic interventions for PTSD includes trauma‐focused CBT involving exposure techniques. The present review sought to establish the treatment efficacy of CBT and PDT approaches and considers the potential impact of selecting PDT‐based techniques over CBT‐based techniques for the treatment of PTSD.

Results

The evidence reviewed provided examples supporting PDT‐based therapy as an effective treatment for PTSD, but confirmed CBT as more effective in the treatment of this particular disorder. Comparable dropout rates were reported for both treatment approaches, suggesting that relative dropout rate should not be a pivotal factor in the selection of a PDT approach over CBT for treatment of PTSD.

Conclusion/Implications

The need to routinely observe evidence‐based recommendations for effective treatment of PTSD is highlighted and factors undermining practitioner engagement with CBT‐based interventions for the treatment of PTSD are identified.     

On initial item selection in cognitive diagnostic computerized adaptive testing

There has recently been much interest in computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for cognitive diagnosis. While there exist various item selection criteria and different asymptotically optimal designs, these are mostly constructed based on the asymptotic theory assuming the test length goes to infinity. In practice, with limited test lengths, the desired asymptotic optimality may not always apply, and there are few studies in the literature concerning the optimal design of finite items. Related questions, such as how many items we need in order to be able to identify the attribute pattern of an examinee and what types of initial items provide the optimal classification results, are still open. This paper aims to answer these questions by providing non‐asymptotic theory of the optimal selection of initial items in cognitive diagnostic CAT. In particular, for the optimal design, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the Q ‐matrix structure of the initial items. The theoretical development is suitable for a general family of cognitive diagnostic models. The results not only provide a guideline for the design of optimal item selection procedures, but also may be applied to guide item bank construction.     

How people familiarize themselves with complex ecological concepts—anchoring of social representations of invasive non‐native species

New terms and frameworks are constantly being incorporated into scientific and public discourses on the management of natural resources and the environment. The idea of invasive non‐native plant and animal species, i.e. of species that enter a new range and spread prolifically, is currently becoming part of the public discourse in Scotland. This constitutes a valuable opportunity to study how people engage with new scientific concepts. We analysed focus group and personal interview data to examine how participants (including the general public, conservation volunteers and scientists) familiarized themselves with the ecological concept of invasive non‐native species. Our analysis draws on the idea of anchoring in the formation of social representations, complemented by concepts from cognitive linguistics and conceptual blending, and defines anchoring as a process of information transfer from source to target domains. Our findings suggest that social representations of invasive non‐native species were constituted to a large degree by perceptions of species' detrimental impacts and the human role in and responsibility for the introduction process. By contrast, the non‐nativeness of a species was not relevant for participants from the general public and conservation volunteers. Three types of anchoring could be distinguished in our participants' discussions that differed with regard to the relations between source and target domain. Whereas participants from the general public and conservation volunteers used all three types of anchoring, scientists did not. The identification of different anchoring types also helped to explain incongruencies in the scientific discourse on invasive non‐native species, and has implications for public information campaigns. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attention and expertise in multiple target tracking

An experiment is reported examining the role of attention and expertise in multiple target tracking. It compares the ability of professional radar operators (experts) and undergraduate students (novices) to acquire and track subsets of randomly moving targets amongst distractors, and respond appropriately to a probe. Participants undertook this tracking task alone then, subsequently, in conjunction with a second, digit categorization task. For half the participants, the second task commenced prior to the tracking task's target acquisition phase, for the remainder after. Results suggest experts are better than novices across all conditions. Further, a comparison of results between the two dual task conditions indicates that attentional resources make a contribution to target tracking in both novices and experts, but only appear to make a contribution to target acquisition in novices. The results have implications for theories of multiple target tracking; the selection of radar operators; and the monitoring of their training. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.