科学美国人60秒 SSS 成对比较或能提高目击者的辨认率

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard¹.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。

In 2006 a 26-year-old California man named Uriah Courtney was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and rape³,

2006年，26岁加州男子乌利亚·考特尼因绑架和强奸被判处终身监禁，

despite having an alibi⁴ for the time the crimes were committed.

尽管他有不在犯罪现场的证明。

"And there were two witnesses. They saw a lineup in the police station, and they both identified the same person.

“有两名目击者。他们在警察局对一排人进行辨认，二人指认了同一个人。

And he was convicted, entirely⁵ based on those two eyewitness⁶ accounts."

他被判有罪，完全基于这两个目击者的陈述。”

Salk Institute for Biological Studies neuroscientist Tom Albright.

索尔克生物研究所的神经学家汤姆·奥尔布赖特说到。

He says years later, the California Innocence⁷ Project looked into the case.

他表示，几年后，加州清白计划调查了此案。

"And it turns out that the DNA² that was found at the crime scene was not the DNA of Uriah Courtney."

“事实证明，在犯罪现场发现的DNA不是乌利亚·考特尼的DNA。”

After eight years behind bars, Courtney was set free. But his case is not unique.

在狱中度过八年后，考特尼被释放。但他的情况并非个例。

"There are now hundreds of cases in which individuals have been exonerated⁸ based on this post-conviction DNA analysis."

“目前有数百起个人因这一定罪后DNA分析而证明无罪的案件。”

Most of these innocent people were sent to prison because witnesses misidentified them.

这些无辜的人大部分被送进监狱，因为目击者误认了他们。

"Somebody picked them out of a lineup, and that information was taken seriously by the police. And the jury believed it."

“有人将他们从一排人中挑出来，警方对这一信息非常重视。陪审团也相信了这个信息。”

Why do witnesses sometimes get it so wrong? Albright explains that our memory for visual events is notoriously flawed.

为何目击者有时会错得如此离谱？奥尔布赖特解释说，我们对视觉事件的记忆存在显著的缺陷。

"If somebody tells us that they saw something, we figure, well, it must be true. They saw it with their own eyes."

“如果有人告诉我们他们看到了什么，我们会想，那一定是真的。因为他们亲眼所见。”

Lineups typically show witnesses photos of six faces—five of innocent people and one of the suspect.

通常在对一排人进行辨认时，目击者会看到6张脸的照片，其中5个是无辜者，1个是嫌疑人。

"The eyewitness is simply asked to identify any person that they remember from the crime scene."

“目击者只被要求指认记忆中他们在犯罪现场看到的任何人。”

But only having them pick their top choice doesn't account for how well the witness remembers that face. This issue can result in errors.

但仅让他们选出首选并不能说明目击者对那张脸的记忆有多清晰。这个问题可能导致错误。

Albright's team thinks there's a better way—by tapping into the strength of the witness's memory.

奥尔布赖特的团队认为有更好的方法利用目击者的记忆力。

In an experiment, they had volunteers watch a clip of a grisly crime scene from an obscure Hollywood movie.

在实验中，他们让志愿者观看好莱坞不出名电影中的恐怖犯罪现场的片段。

The next day, these study subject "witnesses" viewed a six-person lineup that showed just two faces at a time.

第二天，这些研究对象“目击者”查看了每次只展示两张脸的6人队列。

Think of an eye test: Better now—or now?

想象一下进行视力测试的情况：现在这样更好，还是这样？

"So on each pair, the witness will vote for one or the other of the faces: Which one looks more similar to the person you remember from the crime scene?

“因此，目击者会对这两张脸的其中一张投票：哪一张看起来更像你在犯罪现场记得的那个人？

We then tabulate⁹ that vote. And the face that has the largest number of votes is the winner."

之后我们会将投票结果制成表格。得票最多的人就是嫌疑人。”

Compared to traditional lineup techniques, the two-faces-at-a-time method led to a less biased¹⁰ and more accurate identification of the fictional¹¹ perpetrator.

与传统的队列技术相比，这种一次展示两张脸的方法产生的偏颇更少，指认虚拟犯罪者的准确率也更高。

"People are far better at making relative judgments¹² than they are at making absolute judgements."

“人们做相对判断的能力远远强于做绝对判断。”

The study is in the journal Nature Communications.

这项研究发表在《自然·通讯》期刊上。

The researchers think their approach to lineups has the potential to reduce wrongful convictions, resulting in more justice for all.

研究人员认为，他们的列队方式有可能减少错误定罪，从而为所有人带来更多的公正。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。

1 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

2 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 alibi   

n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口

参考例句：

• Do you have any proof to substantiate your alibi? 你有证据表明你当时不在犯罪现场吗？
• The police are suspicious of his alibi because he already has a record.警方对他不在场的辩解表示怀疑，因为他已有前科。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

7 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

8 exonerated   

v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The police report exonerated Lewis from all charges of corruption. 警方的报告免除了对刘易斯贪污的所有指控。
• An investigation exonerated the school from any blame. 一项调查证明该学校没有任何过失。 来自辞典例句

9 tabulate   

v.列表，排成表格式

参考例句：

• It took me ten hours to tabulate the results.我花了十个小时把结果制成表格。
• Let me tabulate the results as follows.让我将结果列表如下。

10 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

11 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

12 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。