ABSTRACT

Psychologists both in Europe and North America have for some time been investigating how and why eyewitnesses make mistaken identifications (Ainsworth, 1998a; Cutler & Penrod, 1995; Loftus, 1979; Ross, Read, & Toglia, 1994; Shepherd, Ellis, & Davies, 1982; Wagenaar, 1988; Wells & Loftus, 1984). A large number of possible reasons for such errors have been identified. These include factors such as witness expectations, prompts, time delays, interference, and incorrect procedures. However there are some cases where mistaken identifications appear to have resulted from the process of unconscious transference (Ainsworth, 1998a, p. 72.) This is the phenomenon in which a face is remembered as being familiar, but is incorrectly identified as being that of a suspect. Unconscious transference can for example result in an innocent bystander at the scene of a crime being incorrectly identified as the perpetrator. In such a case, a witness remembers (correctly) that the face is familiar, perhaps associates it with the scene of the crime, but incorrectly recalls the face as being that of the perpetrator.