Earwitness memory: distortions for voice pitch and speaking rate

In two experiments, memory distortions for voice pitch and speaking rate were examined. In both experiments, a significant distortion effect for voice pitch was observed, with listeners biased towards selecting voices lower in pitch than low‐pitch targets and selecting voices higher in pitch than hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied cognitive psychology 2010-05, Vol.24 (4), p.513-526
Main Authors: Mullennix, John W., Stern, Steven E., Grounds, Benjamin, Kalas, Rob, Flaherty, Mary, Kowalok, Sara, May, Eric, Tessmer, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Audition
Biological and medical sciences
Cognitive psychology
Distortion
Earwitnesses
Effects
Expert witness testimony
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Learning. Memory
Listeners
Memory
Perception
Pitch
Property
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Voice recognition
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Summary:In two experiments, memory distortions for voice pitch and speaking rate were examined. In both experiments, a significant distortion effect for voice pitch was observed, with listeners biased towards selecting voices lower in pitch than low‐pitch targets and selecting voices higher in pitch than high‐pitch targets. In contrast, for speaking rate there was little evidence for the production of memory distortions. The results are discussed in terms of transient surface properties of speech and how transience may be a factor in producing distortions. The results have implications for how errors arise during earwitness testimony for a suspect's voice. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0888-4080
1099-0720
DOI:10.1002/acp.1566