Dr Carolyn Semmler

Room 507, Hughes Building Phone +61 (08) 8303 4628 Fax +61 (08) 8303 3770 carolyn.semmler@adelaide.edu.au Personal Page

Level 1 Course Coordinator

Area of Research

Eyewitness memory, judgment and decision making, metacogition

Senior Appointments and Memberships

Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

Awards

Maconochie Prize ( APS College of Forensic Psychologists, 2004)

Flinders University Research Scholarship (2000-2004)

Psychology Research Interests

Assessments of eyewitness identification evidence play a central role in the legal process. Every time an identification procedure is used investigators, judges and jurors must assess the reliability of the witnesses’ identification decision (or lack of decision). My research addresses the factors affecting the reliability of these assessments. I am also interested in the applying of theories of judgment and decision making to the legal process to improve the decisions made by investigators, judges and jurors

Recent Key Publications

Book Chapters

Semmler, C. & Brewer, N. (January 2007, in press). The ‘pop-out’ effect and eyewitness identification. In B.D. Cutler (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Brewer, N., Weber, N., & Semmler, C. (2006). A role for theory in eyewitness identification research. In R. C. L. Lindsay, D. F. Ross, J. D. Read, & M. Toglia (Eds.), Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Volume 2: Memory for people (pp. 210-218). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Journal Articles

Semmler, C. & Brewer, N. (2006). Postidentification feedback effects on face recognition confidence: Evidence for metacognitive influences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 895-916.

Semmler, C. , Brewer, N., & Wells, G.L. (2004). Effects of post-identification feedback on eyewitness identification and non-identification confidence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 334-346.

Brewer, N., Harvey, S., & Semmler, C. (2004). Improving comprehension of jury instructions with audio-visual presentation. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 765-776.