Out-of-breath cops fail to recognise the perpetrator

Witnesses to a crime might recall events and faces less accurately if physically exhausted at the time of the incident. That's the conclusion from a study in which 52 police officers were asked to recall events and identify suspects from ID parades after reconstructed crime.

Lorraine Hope of the University of Portsmouth, UK, and colleagues gave all participants a briefing about a pretend burglary. Half of them then exercised for around a minute, to the point of exhaustion. A minute later, all the police officers were taken to a house where they were confronted by the prime suspect of the burglary.

Only 27 per cent of those who had exercised were later able to identify the suspect in an ID parade, compared with 54 per cent of those who had not. Those who had exercised also recalled just 56 per cent of the required details about the suspect compared with 84 per cent from the non-exercisers.

The team says that physical exertion drains attentional resources, forcing a person to focus on what is necessary for survival, often to the exclusion of details vital to the courts. "This issue does not appear to have received any particular attention within the legal system," says Hope.

Journal reference: Psychological Science, DOI: 10.1177/0956797611431463

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