Forensic Identification
We are a group of researchers investigating identification by a variety of forensic & biometric based tools. These applied areas of research bring together a number of domains in human information processing in which we specialize within cognitive psychology. These domains include pattern recognition, mental representations, decision making, expertise, statistics, and knowledge acquisition. These areas all converge together in the applied domains of biometrics and the criminal justice system. Other areas of interest to us which are vital for biometric and forensic applications are the use and integration of technology and selection & training of examiners; including issues of confirmation & other cognitive biases, and optimizing decision making (for more information, please also see the pages dedicated to decision making and to cognition & technology).
We have taken our expertise in these areas 
and our understanding of human performance & cognition and have applied them to real world issues. Through Cognitive Consultants International (CCI) we have provided training and consultancy to fingerprint and forensic examiners on how to deal with and minimize confirmation and other cognitive biases (e.g., to the Netherland National Police, the Israeli National Police, as well as to Police Forces in the UK, such as Greater Manchester Police and Hampshire Constabulary). We have also provided expert reports and testimony on these issues to the courts (e.g., in the Levi Bellfield serial killer case in the High Criminal Court at the Old Bailey in London and in the Troy Worsley double homicide case in the Superior Court of Washington DC). We provided consultancy to the UK Passport and Identity Services on reducing fraud detection through facial recognition. See list of projects.
Dr Itiel Dror, the Principal Consultant and Researcher at CCI, is currently a member of:
· Expert Working Group on Human Factors in Latent Fingerprint Analysis
· International Centre for Advanced Research in Identification Science
· UK-India Biometric Digital Identity EPSRC partnership
· British Standards Institute (BSI) Biometrics IST/44 Working Group 6 on cross-Jurisdictional and Societal Aspects of Biometrics
· International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology
· Associate Editor for the Journal Forensic Science Policy & Management
· His work into forensic decision making has been cited throughout the National Academy of Science report on Forensics (2009)
· See more activities, and publications are listed below.
Watch a BBC’s Newsnight interview with Dr. Dror on fingerprint identification reliability and error.
For a general paper on some of these issues, see the article Biased Brains, that appeared in Police Review.
For a more technical article, see Meta-Analytically Quantifying the Reliability and Biasability of Forensic experts, that appeared in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.
For a paper that focuses on the use of technology, see The use of technology in human expert domains: Challenges and risks arising from the use of automated fingerprint identification systems in forensics, that appeared in the journal Law, Probablity and Risk.
For information or enquiries, please e-mail: info@CognitiveConsultantsInternational.com
More publications and presentations on these issues:
Sung, M., Johnson, J.E. & Dror, I. E. (in press). Complexity as a guide to understanding decision bias: A contribution to the favorite-longshot bias debate. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 22 (3), 318-337.
Dror, I. E. (in press). How can Francis Bacon help forensic science? The four idols of human biases. Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology.
Dror, I. E. & Cole, S. (in press). The vision in 'blind' justice: Expert perception, judgment and visual cognition in forensic pattern recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
Dror, I. E. & Mnookin, J. (in press). The use of technology in human expert domains: Challenges and risks arising from the use of automated fingerprint identification systems in forensics. Law, Probability and Risk.
Dror, I.E. (2006). Cognitive science serving security: Assuring useable and efficient biometric and technological solutions. Aviation Security International, 12 (3), 21-28.
Dror, I. D. (2009). On proper research and understanding of the interplay between bias and decision outcomes. Forensic Science International, 191, 17-18.
Dror, I.E. & Charlton, D. (2006). Why experts make errors. Journal of Forensic Identification, 56 (4), 600-616.
Dror, I.E. (2006). The psychology of police performance and decision making. Police Professional, 58, 37-39.
Fraser-Mackenzie, P. & Dror, I. E. (2009). Selective information sampling: Cognitive coherence in evaluation of a novel item. Judgment and Decision Making, 4 (4), 307-316.
Dror, I. E., Busemeyer, J.R., & Basola, B. (1999). Decision making under time pressure: An independent test of sequential sampling models. Memory and Cognition, 27 (4), 713-725.
Charlton, D., Fraser-Mackenzie, P., and Dror, I. E. (in press). Emotional experiences and motivating factors associated with fingerprint analysis. Journal of Forensics Sciences, 55 (3).
Dror, I. E. (in press). Paradoxical functional degradation in human expertise. In N. Kapur, Pascual-Leone, & V. S. Ramachandran (Eds.) The Paradoxical Brain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Dror, I.E. (2009). The role of cognition in expert performance. Forensic Science in the 21st Century Conference. Arizona, USA.
Dror, I.E. & Fraser-Mackenzie, P. (2008). Cognitive biases in human perception, judgment, and decision making: Bridging theory and the real world. In K. Rossmo (Ed.) Criminal Investigative Failures (pp 53-67). Taylor & Francis Publishing.
Dror, I.E. (2008). Forensics in the courtroom: An objective tool or a subjective prop? Psychology and the Law: Emerging Trends Symposium. Psychonomic. Chicago, USA.
Dror, I.E (2008) The role of perception: secure and deterrent in airports and airplanes. International Air Transport Association Annual Meeting. Seoul, South Korea.
Busey, T. & Dror, I.E. (in press). Special Abilities and Vulnerabilities in Forensic Expertise. In A. McRoberts (Ed.) Friction Ridge Sourcebook. Washington DC: NIJ Press.
Dror, I.E. (in press). Paradoxical functional degradation in human expertise. In N. Kapur, Pascual-Leone, & V. S. Ramachandran (Eds.) The Paradoxical Brain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Stibel, J. M., Dror, I. E., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2009). Dissociating Choice and Judgment in Decision Making: The Collapsing Choice Theory. Theory and Decision, 66 (2), 149-179.
Dror, I.E. (2008). Confirmation bias. Annual Conference of NIJ (National Institute of Justice). Washington, D.C., USA.
Dror, I. E. (2008). Expert Decision Making: Confirmation, contextual & other cognitive biases. Society of Expert Witnesses Conference on Trust and be Trusted. Swindon, UK.
Dror, I. E. (2008). Biased brains. Police Review, 116, 20-23.
Dror, I. E. & Stevenage, S. (eds.) (2000).Facial Information Processing: A multidisciplinary perspective. (276 pp.) John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
Dror, I. E. (2007). Perception of risk and the decision to use force. Policing, 1, 265-272.
Peron, A. E., Dror, I. E., & Bucks, R. (2005). The number of choice alternatives in a decision making task: Cursed by, or spoilt for choice? 9th European Congress of Psychology. Granada, Spain.
Schmitz-Williams, I., Dror, I. E., & Durston, H. (2005). Visual features affect mental representations and transformations: curvature and closure bias toward piecemeal or holistic processing in mental imagery. 9th European Congress of Psychology. Granada, Spain.
Charlton, D., Peron, A.E., & Dror, I. E., (2004). The interplay of perceptual and cognitive elements in fingerprint identification: When higher-level cognition can facilitated or hinder fingerprint matching. International Biometric Society, British Region Annual Meeting. Royal Statistical Society, London, UK.
Dror, I.E. and Rosenthal, R. (2008). Meta-analytically quantifying the reliability and biasability of forensic experts. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 53(4), 900-903.
Dror, I.E. (2006). A holistic-cognitive approach for success in technology. Biometric Technology Today, 14(8), 7-8.
Dror, I. E. (2007). Evaluating scientific evidence for the courts. Evidence in the Courtroom: Possibilities and Challenges, Validity and Value. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. Cambridge, UK.
Dror, I. E. (2007). Perception and bias in risk judgments. Metropolitan Police Seminar on Bringing Science to the Streets. London.
Dror, I.E. (2006). The psychology of police performance and decision making. Police Professional, 58, 37-39.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Psychology and fingerprint experts. European Forensic Science Meeting, Magdeburg, Germany
Dror, I. E., Charlton, D. (2005). New contributions of cognitive psychology to forensic science derive from a focus on the forensic expert perspective. 9th European Congress of Psychology. Granada, Spain.
Dror, I. E., Charlton, D. (2005). The vulnerability of fingerprint science and potential pitfalls in the identification process. How can they be addressed and overcome? Fingerprint Society Meeting. Brighton, UK.
Dror, I. E. (2004). The effects of screening, training, and experience of Air Force fighter pilots: The plasticity of the ability to extrapolate and track multiple objects in motion. North American Journal of Psychology, 6 (2), 239-252.
Ashman, O., Dror, I. E., Houlette, M., & Levy, B. (2003). Preserved risk-taking skills in old age. North American Journal of Psychology, 5 (3), 397-407.
Smith, W., Dror, I. E., & Mander, H. (2003). The effect of training specificity on performance in novel and related tasks. XX BPS Annual Cognitive Conference.
Dror, I. E., Langer, E.J., Houlette, M., & Ashworth, R.S.( 2001). Training and tasks demands that restrict and enhance performance. Psychonomic Abstracts, 6, 85.
Baden, D., Dror, I. E., and Warwick-Evans, L.A. (2000). The dynamics within and between decisions. Psychonomic Abstracts, 4, 81.
Rafaely, V., Dror, I. E., and Remington, B. (2000). Working memory capacity in old age affects decision-making performance. British Psychological Cognitive Section Annual Conference.
Dror, I. E. & Burwell, K. (1999). The effects of prior knowledge on cognitive performance of older people. 6th European Congress of Psychology, 141.
Ashworth, A.R.S., & Dror, I. E. (2001). Object Identification as a Function of Discriminability and Learning Presentations: The Effect of Stimulus Similarity and Canonical Frame Alignment on Aircraft Identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 6 (2), 148-157.
Ashworth, R. S., Dror, I. E., Snooks, S. F., Robbins, R.D., & Schreiner, C.S. (1997). Canonical and non-canonical presentations during training determine the specificity of the object representations. Psychonomic Abstracts, 2, 627. Philadelphia, PA.
Dror, I. E., Ashworth, R. S., Schreiner, C.S., Robbins, R.D., & Snooks, S. F. (1997). The primacy effect on identification: Initial presentations during training establish long lasting representations. Psychonomic Abstracts, 2, 628. Philadelphia, PA.
Schreiner, C. S., Smith, K. M., & Dror, I. E. (1997). Visual-spatial processing of objects presented from canonical and non-canonical viewpoints. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting Abstracts, 25. Boston, MA.
Dror, I. E., Kosslyn, S. M., & Waag, W. (1993). Visual-spatial abilities of pilots. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78 (5), 763-773.
Dror, I.E. (2007). Expert error in forensic identification decisions, Psychology and the Law Symposium. British Psychological Annual Meeting. York, UK.
Dror, I.E. (2006). The right for identity and for anonymity in mirror of biometric technologies. NATO Advanced Research Workshop. Jerusalem, Israel.
Dror, I. E., Charlton, D. (2006). Policing and forensics depend on cognition, psychology, and the human mind. Interpol Conference. Lyon, France.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Perception is far from perfection: The role of the brain and mind in constructing realities. Brain and Behavioural Sciences 28 (6), 763.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Technology and human expertise: Some do’s and don’ts. Biometric Technology Today, 13 (9), 7-9.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Identification, technology, and human experts: Where might it go wrong? European Commission Conference on Biometric Identification. Brussels, Belgium.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Psychological and cognitive elements involved in biometric identification. Biometrics 2005, London.
Dror, I.E. (2005). Why should fingerprint experts care about psychology? International Association for Identification. Vermont, USA
Dror, I.E., Charlton, D., & Peron A. (2006). Contextual information renders experts vulnerable to making erroneous identifications. Forensic Science International, 156 (1), 74-78.
Rafaely, V., Dror, I. E., & Remington, R. E. (2006). Information selectivity in decision making by young and older adults. International Journal of Psychology, 41 (2), 117-131.
Dror, I. E., Rafaely, V., & Busemyer, J. R. (1999). The dynamics of decision making as a function of recent outcomes and possible consequences. 6th European Congress of Psychology, 86.
Rafaely, V. & Dror, I. E. (1999). Avoidance payoff does not affect decision making by older adults. British Psychological Cognitive Section XVI Annual Conference.
Smith, W. & Dror, I. E. (1999). Configural Information Contributes More to Object Representation than Featural Information. British Psychological Cognitive Section XVI Annual Conference.
Rafaely, V., Dror, I. E., & Busemeyer, J. R. (1998). The susceptibility of young and old adults to positive and negative outcomes of recent decisions. Psychonomic Abstracts, 3, 41.
Dror, I.E., Peron, A., Hind, S., & Charlton, D. (2005). When emotions get the better of us: The effect of contextual top-down processing on matching fingerprints. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(6), 799-809.
Dror, I.E. (2004). Cognitive psychology and forensic decision making. Royal Statistical Society Meeting. London.
Dror, I. E., Charlton, D., & Peron, A.E. (2004). Evaluating ‘scientific’ evidence for the court: What contributing factors are really involved in fingerprint identification. ICARIS. Sheffield, UK.
Dror, I. E., Peron, A.E., & Charlton, D. (2004). Psychological factors involved in fingerprint identification. Autumn Conference of the Forensic Science Society. Bedfordshire, UK.
Peron, A.E., Dror, I. E., Hind, S.L, & Charlton, D. (2004). Decision making processes involved in fingerprint identification: The influence of emotional context on finding a match. 14th International Forensic Science Symposium. Lyon, France.
For information or enquiries, please e-mail: info@CognitiveConsultantsInternational.com
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