How observant are you? If you were called to be an eye witness/identify somebody in an identity parade would you go to pieces? (Lighthearted.)

[KnopkaPixie]

This is my worst nightmare. I have been known to hold a conversation with an old friend whom I hadn't seen for a few months for over half an hour then suddenly blurt out, "You've got a beard!" It was a big bushy beard as well.

Under pressure, I could never say whether it was a red car or a green car, where I was at 3pm on Monday the 28th of September 2022...

I'm a patsy in the making!

Whenever i think i, or anyone else, might be a good eyewitness, i am reminded of this.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yrCTrB-HSfQ?si=WCBeCnRMSwQWfKnL

https://youtube.com/shorts/yrCTrB-HSfQ?si=WCBeCnRMSwQWfKnL

Weird. These links are normally viewable

It's quite bizarre ime what variety of detail people give.. I was involved in a court case that required lots of details... None of them were correct imo!! I would be no good.. Dh has an odd photographic memory for some things but def not others.. Like dirty dishes. Never sees those...

I had to identify a suspect in a line up. I thought I wouldn't be able to remember what he looked like but as soon as saw his face I knew it instantly. It was done via video so I didn't need to see him face to face.

Christ no, i'd be awful, walk around in a bit of a daze most of the time.

Could you post your link again, please? It doesn't show up blue clickable.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yrCTrB-HSfQ?si=WCBeCnRMSwQWfKnL

Is this opening?

It's neil deGrasse Tyson talking about eyewitness testimony btw

I had to identify someone once from some police photos. I knew straight away which one it was. But I forgot what he was wearing.

I have a trained better than photographic memory which annoyingly I can't switch off (trained myself after a severe head injury and couldnt remember a thing). I think I'd end up giving too much eyewitness detail to the point they'd think I was a fantasist and not credible

I am terrible with faces. I don’t necessarily recognise people I know if I see them out of context. I’d be terrible with a line up. Probably slightly better than average with things though so that might even my witness statement out a bit.

Some people are incredible at recognising faces (super recognisers) and others are v v bad (face blindness). I'm towards the face blindness end of the scale so I'd be hopeless at recognising suspects in a line up.

I'm great at recognising faces but terrible with details like clothing, names, etc

I had to give eyewitness evidence in court, and the police liaison complimented me afterwards on the precision and detail. I could describe the exact shape and position of bruises, and identify stains on clothing.

However, I'm terrible at faces because I have prosopagnosia, so I'd be hopeless at a lineup unless the person had a distinctive feature (I can do individual noses, eyebrows etc if they are notable, but can't 'see' a whole face - and can be totally thrown by even a minimal change of hair or glasses).

The thing is, people's judgement about how reliable they would be probably has no baring of their actual ability (unless they have been tested). Eyewitness testimony is notoriously subject to bias, degradation over time etc.

We did a whole term in A-level psychology on a criminal module and a big chunk of it was jury's and eyewitnesses. Absolutely shocking what happens.nyou only need to watch a magic show to realise how easy we are to mislead and distract.

I’m not at all. I’ve walked past my own family in the street before, I’ve walked past my own children at events. I’m off in my own shitty little world in my head most of the day.

Plus, I’ve got stigmatism and don’t wear glasses, so life is fuzzy round the edges anyway.

I’d be fucking useless.

I am normally fairly ok, its part of my job to have an eye for detail.

But the two times I have been in traumatic events and needed to give the police a witness statement it was like the trauma erased my memory. I could remember vague details but had a blank spot where any memory of facial features etc was. Luckily the police were really understanding. In one case they had finger prints and other evidence anyway, in the other they had CCTV footage

Not great with faces tbh.

Many years ago a friend and I were attacked after a night out. He followed us and tried to grab my friend and drag her away.

i had seen his face, but only when id glanced over my shoulder at him as we were walking and then when i was trying to pull my friend away to safety.

i was able to describe his clothing accurately, and generic info on his appearance eg Caucasian with brown hair etc, but I couldn’t identify him in the police line up which was all Caucasian men with brown hair of similar build.

However, my description of him meant the police could identify him in the cctv footage, which was made public and people who knew him contacted the police. He was sentenced to 8 months

I wonder how they get people to be in a police line up? I'm a bear of very little brain...

It wasn’t in person, but images on a computer.

Beforehand I kind of assumed they’d all be quite ‘different’ looking… but unfortunately not.

Thankfully (and foolishly!) he’d worn something very distinctive so the police were able to track his movements on cctv across the town centre.

The 'stooges' are paid a small amount of money. It's mostly done on video now.

I was on the receiving end of a prick with an air rifle who fancied himself as a bit of a sniper a long time ago. He took a potshot and stepped back from his window, thinking I wouldn't be able to see him, so I caught a brief glimpse of him standing there.

Unfortunately for him not only was I was extremely pissed off about it, it happened to be the day that the PM was visiting my town.

The police, who arrived within about 25 seconds of my calling to report it (see above) were very nice but weren't entirely convinced by my description of where it had come from until they made him stand in front of his window for me to look up from where I'd been shot at - until I said 'he's brushed the hair gel out and made his hair wet to make it look curly now instead of spiky and changed his jumper as he was wearing a short red Fruit of the Loom sweatshirt that didn't quite meet his wrists instead of a dark blue one in about a size 42 chest. I couldn't quite see his jeans properly, I think they were bog standard mid blue 501s, but he definitely wasn't wearing tracksuit bottoms as he had a belt on with a gold buckle'. (yes, it did all come out in a rush of words - I'd been shot at, I wasn't happy).

'Oh, his girlfriend's in there, too. She's wearing a sweatshirt exactly like that - and he said he'd just got out of the shower, but there's a pair of 501s with a gold buckled belt in the washbasket'.

Didn't even need to go to court, my statement was enough for him to plead guilty, I got several months of very handy payments once he was convicted and the Police didn't have to deal with any more reports of a mystery air rifle twat on that street.

I'm actually better at colours/makeup/hair/clothes and posture than actual features, though - I'll be able to describe somebody really well by their skin tone and undertone, hairstyle, whether they've got permanent or semi colours, the cut, their makeup and brow shape and how they walk/whether they overpronate or tilt their shoulder but not their face - or I'll recognise their accent/voice.

But I've been hypervigilant since a kid for reasons and whenever something has happened, I've been the person who acts, not one who freezes or panics.

I read somewhere years ago that most people can only guess the correct age of someone who is close in age to them.

I think I would be ok, I'm fairly observant and have good recall, I've got good visual recall and have an eye for detail
helps with my job so it gets practiced quite a bit however my husband would be abysmal.
He can't even recall stuff he sees everyday.
My 16yo would be pretty rubbish too, I gave him a lift into town the other day and commented on the 'new' sign for the business park we pass on a regular basis ... it's been there 3yrs!!!

I'm awful. Genuinely think I have face blindness, I can not recognise someone I have known for years if they have a different coat on or something. And if they cover their hair then they are a total mystery to me.
I'm better when people talk and move, but from a still image I'd mistake my own family.