Eyewitness identification by elderly and young adults.

Elderly men and women and young males and females observed a simulated assault and theft of a wallet by a male assailant on a male victim. Two other people also were present in the criminal scenario, a female friend of the victim, and a female witness bystander. Young subject-witnesses were significantly superior to the elderly in verbal recall of details of the criminal episode. However, no reliable differences were found between the two age categories in recognition of the assailant, the victim, or friend. Women were superior to men and young people were superior to the elderly in identifying the bystander. Identification of the assailant was influenced by complex interactions of guilty or innocent facial appearances of the assailant and the victim, as well as the sex and age of the witnesses.