COMPUTERIZED MUG BOOKS - DOES ADDING MULTIMEDIA HELP

The usefulness of a computerized, multimedia mug book was explored. Pa rticipants (N = 286) randomly Viewed 1 of 2 perpetrators of a videotap ed crime and then attempted to identify the perpetrator from computeri zed mug book. files. Participants were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) dynamic no-choice, where every static mug shot was followed by a c omputerized video clip of the person walking, talking, and rotating th rough 360 degrees; (b) dynamic choice, where static mug shots were fol lowed by dynamic information only when chosen by the participant; and (c) static, where just the static mug shot was presented. There were s ignificantly fewer false positive identifications of the foils in the dynamic choice condition than in the static condition. The foil most s imilar to the perpetrator was also less likely to be falsely identifie d in the dynamic choice condition. Dynamic information was found to im prove mug book performance when witnesses chose for it to be presented .