Can Witnesses Judge Length, Size, Color? Free Video Tests Added to ComCon's Visual Resources Webpage

Oct. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- Witnesses are often asked to estimate length, size and color of objects. These estimates can be fraught with errors because of witnesses' perspective (i.e., point of view) and/or objects blocking part of their view.

ComCon, a national trial and jury consulting firm based in Los Angeles, California, hosts a webpage “Kollectionn” of free visual resources for attorneys to view and play during deposition and trial to show that witnesses can make incorrect judgments about a situation, can be unaware of information even when attending to a situation, can misremember information even when motivated to remember, and can misperceive situations even when well-intentioned.

Three new videos have been added to the “Observation and Judgment” section of ComCon’s Visual Resources Kollectionn of tests demonstrating inaccurate judgments by witnesses of length, size and color because of the witnesses' perspective or blocked view.

Two of the new videos are interactive tests of a witness’s ability to judge the length of two objects (i.e., buildings) and the size of other objects (i.e., cars).  The judgment tasks are difficult because the perspective (i.e., angle or point of view) of the observer leads to errors in estimates of length and size.

A third new video is an interactive test of a witness’s ability to judge different shades of a color. The judgment task is difficult when the “change point” between two different shades of a color is blocked from view.

The “Observation and Judgment” section of ComCon’s free Visual Resources Kollectionn contains tests and demonstrations of difficulties witnesses encounter in making judgments about people, objects and situations due to perspective, blocked view or missing circumstantial information.

The “Observation and Awareness” section of the Kollectionn explores times when witnesses are unaware of people, objects and events in a situation, despite otherwise being attentive and observant.

The “Observation and Memory” section focuses on how human memory is pliable, suggestible, associative, forgetful and fallible by providing visual tests and demonstrations of incomplete, inaccurate, and invented memories, despite persons’ best efforts to recollect.

The “Observation and Perception” section contains tests and demonstrations of our inability as humans to perceive objects in the physical world similarly and/or realistically.

The Visual Resources Kollectionn is a free resource hosted by ComCon Kathy Kellermann Communication Consulting at http://www.kkcomcon.com/CCVisualResources.htm.

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About ComCon: Litigation, trial and jury consultant firm specializing in persuasion and making cases compelling for motions, hearings, depositions, mediations, arbitrations, trials and appeals in civil and criminal cases, federal and state courts, and national and local venues. For more information, visit ComCon on the web, join ComCon on facebook, and contact ComCon directly.