Effects of presentation format and instructions on the ability of people with intellectual disability to identify faces.
Show all photos at once and give crystal-clear rules to cut false eyewitness picks by clients with intellectual disability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested how instructions and photo layout affect face identification in adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability. Participants looked at a target photo and then picked it out from a photo line-up.
Some saw the photos one at a time. Others saw all the photos at once. The instructions were also changed: vague 'find the person' versus specific 'compare each face to the target and only pick if you are sure'.
What they found
Clear instructions plus a simultaneous line-up cut false picks. People with ID made fewer mistakes when they could see every photo together and were told exactly how to decide.
The study shows that small changes in how we ask the question and show the pictures can improve accuracy for this population.
How this fits with other research
Wright (1972) and Okouchi (1999) also tested how instructions control behavior. Wright (1972) found that consequences, not instructions, drove imitation in children with ID. Okouchi (1999) saw the same in college students: reinforcement schedules overrode verbal directions. Together these studies warn us that instructions alone are weak unless the right contingencies are in place.
Gastgeb et al. (2009) looked at face skills too, but in autism. They found poorer prototype formation, a negative result. Goodwin et al. (2012) show a positive result: people with ID can identify faces accurately when the task is structured well. The contrast highlights that different developmental groups need different supports.
Peisch et al. (2026) showed masks hurt face recognition in young children with ASD. Goodwin et al. (2012) show that format and instructions help adults with ID. Both papers tell us to control visual conditions when we test face memory in any developmental disability.
Why it matters
If you interview clients with ID as witnesses or victims, use a simultaneous photo array and give explicit rules: 'Look at every photo, compare each one to what you remember, and only pick if you are sure.' These two quick steps reduce false identifications and make testimony more reliable.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Switch to simultaneous photo line-ups and script your instructions: 'Look at every picture, compare each face to your memory, and only point if you are sure.'
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of presentation format and instructions on the ability of people with intellectual disability to identify individuals they did not know and had seen only briefly. With this objective in mind, 2 groups of subjects with mild to moderate intellectual disability were shown a photograph of a person and, after a distracting task, were asked to identify that person in 2 line-ups (target-absent and target-present) with 6 photographs each, where 2 types of instructions (neutral vs specific, between-subject design) and 2 presentation formats (simultaneous vs sequential, within-subject design) for the line-up photographs were used. Each subject completed 4 trials. The results showed that, generally speaking, people with intellectual disability were capable of distinguishing the face of a person previously seen under all these conditions. There was a significantly higher incidence of false alarms, however, when the photographs were presented sequentially and when specific instructions were not given. With specific instructions designed to lessen the social desirability effect and increase motivation for the task, false alarms on the target-absent line-up were reduced. The results were discussed with a view to their applicability in legal and law enforcement contexts.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2012 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.09.015