Files and links (1)
Published (Version of Record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The effect of fingerprint expertise on visual short-term memory
Cognitive research: principles and implications, Vol.9, 14
2024
PMCID: PMC10951190
PMID: 38502299
Abstract
Expert fingerprint examiners demonstrate impressive feats of memory that may support their accuracy when making high-stakes identification decisions. Understanding the interplay between expertise and memory is therefore critical. Across two experiments, we tested fingerprint examiners and novices on their visual short-term memory for fingerprints. In Experiment 1, experts showed substantially higher memory performance compared to novices for fingerprints from their domain of expertise. In Experiment 2, we manipulated print distinctiveness and found that while both groups benefited from distinctive prints, experts still outperformed novices. This indicates that beyond stimulus qualities, expertise itself enhances short-term memory, likely through more effective organisational processing and sensitivity to meaningful patterns. Taken together, these findings shed light on the cognitive mechanisms that may explain fingerprint examiners’ superior memory performance within their domain of expertise. They further suggest that training to improve memory for diverse fingerprints could practically boost examiner performance. Given the high-stakes nature of forensic identification, characterising psychological processes like memory that potentially contribute to examiner accuracy has important theoretical and practical implications.
Details
- Title
- The effect of fingerprint expertise on visual short-term memory
- Authors/Creators
- Brooklyn J. Corbett - School of Psychology, The University of QueenslandJason M. Tangen - The University of QueenslandRachel A. Searston - University of AdelaideMatthew B. Thompson - Murdoch University
- Publication Details
- Cognitive research: principles and implications, Vol.9, 14
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Grant note
- LP170100086 / Australian Research Council (http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000923)
- Identifiers
- 991005650407107891
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2024.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Centre for Biosecurity and One Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Metrics
12 File views/ downloads
92 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 2 Chemistry
- 2.244 Chemometrics
- 2.244.1784 Forensic Spectroscopy
- Web Of Science research areas
- Psychology, Experimental
- ESI research areas
- Psychiatry/Psychology