Abstract

Research on crime scene investigation has strongly focused on the technical aspects of the process, while cognitive aspects (searching, reasoning and perception) have often been overlooked. Textbooks on forensic sciences tend to focus on identifying and processing evidence, and the use of equipment while it can be argued that cognitive factors in processing such evidence and using equipment are equally important. This thesis studies the cognitive aspects of crime scene investigation by comparing eye movement patterns in experts and novices. Studies in various domains, including surgery, sports, and chess playing have shown that eye movements differ between experts and novices, providing a tool towards a more objective assessment of skill than is possible with peer assessment. In four experiments eye movements of experts and novices were examined during (1) inspection of photographs of crime scenes on a computer screen (2) a change blindness task on crime and non-crime scene images, (3) active exploration of a simulated crime scene and (4) the assessment of emotional crime and natural scenes. While some trends in eye movement differences, such as a tendency on longer fixation durations and a broader focus on the overall scene and less on the direct evidence could be found in experts compared to novices, differences between experts and novices were considerably smaller than in other domains, despite the broad range of measures extracted from the data. This lack of clear expertise effects may relate to the rather diverse range of perceptual layouts of crime scenes, reducing possible top-down effects of expertise on the deployment of attention. The results will be discussed with a view of possible directions of future research in this domain.