Shifting Visual Attention to Reduce Bias in Legal Decision-Making

Authors: Balcetis E*

DOI: 10.23880/pprij-16000272

Volume 6, Issue 1

Abstract

In the United States, eyewitness misidentification contributes to wrongful convictions which disproportionately impacts Black individuals. We review evidence to offer insights regarding what factors contribute to the misidentification of Black individuals, particularly by White witnesses. Additionally, we offer a facet that has received little previous attention: eye gaze. In summarizing eye-tracking research, we explain how people differentially orient visual attention to in-group and outgroup faces and how these visual attention differences contribute to errors in facial recognition and facial learning, leading to misidentifications. We also explore the role of local and global processing in facial recognition, and we probe consequences for recognition accuracy, depth of encoding, and cognitive effort. Moreover, we delve into two commonly espoused approaches to attenuating misidentification bias in the legal system. In reviewing empirical research, we offer explanations for why these approaches are generally ineffective at limiting bias in decision-making. Finally, we offer our own evidence-based intervention for such bias; we propose shifting overt attention through instructions prior to an eyewitness task. We believe that instructing participants to shift visual attention prior to a visual task will increase holistic attention to all people in a scene and increase cognitive effort while also limiting biased visual processing, such as vigilance-avoidance.

Keywords: Visual attention; Eye gaze; Eyewitness identification; Legal decision-making

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