Machine Learning Predicts Accuracy in Eyewitnesses' Voices.

An important task in criminal justice is to evaluate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. In this study, we examined if machine learning could be used to detect accuracy. Specifically, we examined if support vector machines (SVMs) could accurately classify testimony statements as correct or incorre...

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Publicado en:Journal of Nonverbal Behavior Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 155 - 170
Autores principales: Gustafsson, Philip U., Lachmann, Tim, Laukka, Petri
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Mar2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2025
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      pub: Springer Nature
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        10.1007/s10919-024-00474-9
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        atl: Machine Learning Predicts Accuracy in Eyewitnesses' Voices.
      aug:
        au:
          Gustafsson, Philip U.
          Lachmann, Tim
          Laukka, Petri
        affil:
          https://ror.org/05f0yaq80 Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, 114 19, Stockholm, Sweden
          https://ror.org/048a87296 Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
      su:
        Confidence
        Memory
        Criminal justice system
        Receiver operating characteristic curves
        Prompts (Psychology)
        Research funding
        Research evaluation
        Descriptive statistics
        Support vector machines
        Physiological aspects of speech
        Conceptual structures
        Machine learning
        Algorithms
        Regression analysis
      sug:
        subj:
          Confidence
          Memory
          Criminal justice system
          Other Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities
          Receiver operating characteristic curves
          Prompts (Psychology)
          Research funding
          Research evaluation
          Descriptive statistics
          Support vector machines
          Physiological aspects of speech
          Conceptual structures
          Machine learning
          Algorithms
          Regression analysis
      keyword:
        Eyewitness accuracy
        Eyewitness testimony
        Forensic voice comparison
        Information and Computing Sciences Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology
        Non-verbal cues
        Eyewitness accuracy
        Eyewitness testimony
        Forensic voice comparison
        Information and Computing Sciences Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology
        Non-verbal cues
      ab: An important task in criminal justice is to evaluate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. In this study, we examined if machine learning could be used to detect accuracy. Specifically, we examined if support vector machines (SVMs) could accurately classify testimony statements as correct or incorrect based purely on the nonverbal aspects of the voice. We analyzed 3,337 statements (76.61% accurate) from 51 eyewitness testimonies along 94 acoustic variables. We also examined the relative importance of each of the acoustic variables, using Lasso regression. Results showed that the machine learning algorithms were able to predict accuracy between 20 and 40% above chance level (AUC = 0.50). The most important predictors included acoustic variables related to the amplitude (loudness) of speech and the duration of pauses, with higher amplitude predicting correct recall and longer pauses predicting incorrect recall. Taken together, we find that machine learning methods are capable of predicting whether eyewitness testimonies are correct or incorrect with above-chance accuracy and comparable to human performance, but without detrimental human biases. This offers a proof-of-concept for machine learning in evaluations of eyewitness accuracy, and opens up new avenues of research that we hope might improve social justice.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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