The Elderly Eyewitness in Court

The majority of research on eyewitness memory has traditionally studied children and young adults. By contrast, this volume is designed to provide an overview of empirical research on the cognitive, social, and health related factors that impact the accuracy of eyewitness testimony given by the elderly.The book takes a lifespan developmental perspective that incorporates research on witnesses of all ages, but uses the findings to focus on issues unique to the elderly. This includes research on recognition memory with lineup identifications and recall memory that occurs when an elderly witness is asked to describe an event in court. The Elderly Eyewitness also examines jurors’ reactions to the testimony of an elderly witness, and the legal and social policy issues that emerge when the elderly witness participate in legal proceedings. While reviewing what is known about the elderly witness, the book also provides a direction for future research into this new frontier of scientific inquiry.Its audience spans researchers in cognitive and developmental psychology, and professionals working in the growing area of psychology and law.

About the Author

Michael P. Toglia, PhD, is a professor and chair of psychology at the University of North Florida. From 2003 to 2011, he was executive director of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition. He has published extensively on eyewitness memory issues, has peer-reviewed nearly 500 articles and chapters, and has frequently testified in court. A former Fulbright grant recipient, he is a fellow in the Association for American Psychological Science, the Midwestern Psychological Association, and two divisions of the American Psychological Association. David F. Ross, PhD, is a UC Foundation Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dr. Ross is interested in factors that influence the accuracy of lineup identification accuracy and how jurors perceive eyewitness testimony. Dr. Ross has received funding for his research from the National Institute of Science and the Department of Justice. He has also published five edited volumes on the psychology of eyewitness testimony, has written numerous articles in top-tier journals in psychology including several law reviews, provides training to law enforcement on how to collect identification evidence, and is an instructor at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Dr. Ross has also served as a trial consultant for nearly 25 years, assisting attorneys with jury selection, mock trials, witness preparation, and trial strategy. Joanna Pozzulo, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University, Ontario, Canada. Borrowing from developmental, social, and cognitive psychology, her research focuses on the identification abilities of child eyewitnesses. Dr. Pozzulo is interested in understanding the identification processes eyewitnesses engage and the best identification procedures to be used by police in order to obtain the most accurate identification evidence. Both Dr. Pozzulo’s research and teaching have received numerous awards. She has coauthored textbooks in forensic psychology for both the Canadian and American student. In addition, Dr. Pozzulo has written more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and chapters. Emily Pica, MS, is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at Carleton University with a concentration in forensic psychology. In 2012, Ms. Pica was one of only four PhD candidates at Carleton University to be awarded the highly prestigious Trillium Scholarship. She also recieved a highly prestigious award for teaching from the Council of Canadian Departments of Psychology. Ms. Pica graduated with her MS from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she conducted research on factors that impact eyewitness memory in adults with a special emphasis on the cross-race effect in lineup identification.