When television first came out in color, instead of black and white, people were in awe of how realistic it looked. But is there a point at which color can make something too realistic?

That’s the question at the center of new research out of ASU about the effect that presenting crime-scene photos in color can have on jurors.

Jessica Salerno, an assistant professor of psychology at ASU, wanted to know how presenting crime-scene photos in color can change how a juror decides in a case.

She took a real case from Australia, in which a man was accused of murdering his wife.

Participants in the study looked at real evidence from this case; some were given black and white photos of the crime, and some saw them in color.

Did the color photos really make a difference?

They did. They found that the people who saw the color photos were almost twice as likely to convict.

The more disgust jurors felt with the crime, the more likely they were to want to convict the person in front of them.