What is the preferred method when showing a sequential display?

• A. Subjects are all the same race and sex
• B. Subjects have similar age and physical characteristics
• C. Show photos ONE at a time
• D. Place photos in random order

Answer: (C)

Focusing on independent judgments is what makes sequential presentation effective. When photos are shown one at a time, the witness evaluates each image against their memory without being influenced by the others, preventing side-by-side comparison. This reduces relative judgment bias, where a person might pick the closest match by weighing all photos together, and typically lowers false identifications while preserving true matches. The other points describe lineup construction or order, which are separate considerations from how the images are shown, so they don’t address the core method that changes how identification is made. Therefore, showing photos one at a time is the approach that improves accuracy in the identification process.