| Deficits in previous developmental research addressing cognitive factors in development of memory for faces and scenes were addressed by having subjects, ages 6 through 40, identify previously observed faces and scenes in which one, two or none of the faces or scenes had been previously viewed two days earlier. Accuracy of pre-test and post-test estimates of performance on the face and scene recognition problems were also assessed. The impact of chronological age, intelligence, mental age, Piagetian level of cognitive development and motivational level was assessed.; Overall net accuracy of identification on the faces and scenes was extremely low. Among subjects of all ages, accuracy of recognition memory for faces and for scenes was positively, but weakly associated with both chronological and mental age. Accuracy on scenes was positively and sporadically associated with measures of IQ and Piagetian levels of cognitive development. Accuracy of pre-test and post-test measures on the scene recognition problems, but not the face recognition problems were associated with the subject developmental variables. A weak, but statistically significant relationship was found between IQ and measures of face and scene recognition accuracy by 7 to 10 year old subjects but not for subjects 11 years of age and older. Very similar results were obtained for both the face and the scene recognition problems and for both the younger and the older subjects, suggesting that face recognition is not a different type of recognition memory.; The results are discussed in terms of cognitive developmental factors. Strong recommendations are made for requiring corroborating evidence for eyewitness identifications by persons of all ages. Further research to determine base rates of identifications under various circumstances is recommended. It is also recommended that further research be conducted into all aspects of the relationship of cognitive factors to recognition accuracy for faces and scenes. |
