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Evaluating intuitive decision-making in non-metric sex estimation from the cranium: an exploratory study

Mantl, Nicole A; Nakhaeizadeh, Sherry; Watts, Rebecca; Rando, Carolyn; Morgan, Ruth M; (2023) Evaluating intuitive decision-making in non-metric sex estimation from the cranium: an exploratory study. Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences , Article 25 Oct 2023. 10.1080/00450618.2022.2104371. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

In recent years, forensic science has seen a rise in the number of multidisciplinary studies examining the effect of human cognition on the evaluation of forensic evidence. Notably, the House of Lords’ report highlighted the need for further investigation of the consequences of cognitive factors on decision-making processes involved in evidence evaluation and interpretation. Utilizing the concepts of intuitive and methodical decision-making, this pilot study investigated this dichotomy within the field of forensic anthropology, applied to sex estimation from the skull. Participants were asked to estimate the biological sex of six crania in two experiments: once ‘intuitively’ under time-pressure, and once by rationally applying the Acsádi and Nemeskéri method with no time-pressure. The potential influence of experience and its correlation with the participants’ confidence levels was also explored. The results demonstrate that intuitive and methodical evaluations can be consistent with each other, yet consistency decreases as ambiguity increases. Confidence was affected more by time availability, and less by level of experience. The insights from this exploratory study address how decision-making processes are involved in the examination of skeletal remains and offers justification for future exploration into the value of applying wider decision-making theories in the field of forensic anthropology.

Type: Article
Title: Evaluating intuitive decision-making in non-metric sex estimation from the cranium: an exploratory study
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1080/00450618.2022.2104371
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1080/00450618.2022.2104371
Language: English
Additional information: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
Keywords: Forensic anthropology; sex estimation; visual assessment; human cognition; decision-making; subjectivity
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Security and Crime Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10153782
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