How good are you at descriptions?
Witnesses to crimes are frequently asked to describe the perpetrator immediately after the event. In this exercise you will watch a short video of a bookshop incident, then write a description of the person you saw, and finally compare your description against the actual face.
- Watch the video carefully.
- Describe the person in as much detail as you can.
- See how well your description captures what they actually look like.
Watch the clip
Watch carefully, then click Describe what you saw.
Describe the person
Here is the person
Your description
What does the research show? Eyewitness descriptions tend to be reasonably accurate for broad categorical features -- sex, approximate age, rough build -- but much less reliable for specific details such as exact height, hair colour, or distinctive features [@wells2006].
Critically, the length or detail of a description does not predict how accurate the corresponding identification will be. A witness who produces a lengthy, fluent description is not more likely to pick the right person from a lineup than one who provides only a few words. This means investigators should be cautious about treating descriptive richness as a signal of memory quality.