Eyewitness accuracy and retrieval effort: Effects of time and repetition

PLoS One. 2022 Sep 7;17(9):e0273455. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273455. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

An important task for the law enforcement is to assess the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. Recent research show that indicators of effortful memory retrieval, such as pausing and hedging (e.g. "I think", "maybe"), are more common in incorrect recall. However, a limitation in these studies is that participants are interviewed shortly after witnessing an event, as opposed to after greater retention intervals. We set out to mitigate this shortcoming by investigating the retrieval effort-accuracy relationship over time. In this study, participants watched a staged crime and were interviewed directly afterwards, and two weeks later. Half the participants also carried out a repetition task during the two-week retention interval. Results showed that the retrieval-effort cues Delays and Hedges predicted accuracy at both sessions, including after repetition. We also measured confidence, and found that confidence also predicted accuracy over time, although repetition led to increased confidence for incorrect memories. Moreover, retrieval-effort cues partially mediated between accuracy and confidence.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Crime
  • Cues
  • Humans
  • Memory*
  • Mental Recall*

Grants and funding

Compensation for participation in the study was supported by a grant from the Elisabeth and Herman Rhodin Memorial Foundation (stiftelsemedel.se/stiftelsen-elisabeth-och-herman-rhodins-minne) awarded to PUG. Compensation for the coders was supported by a grant from the Magnus Bergvall Foundation (www.magnbergvallsstiftelse.nu) awarded to TL. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.