Supplemental Material for The Confidence-Accuracy Relationship for Eyewitness Identification Decisions: Effects of Exposure Duration, Retention Interval, and Divided Attention

AbstractThe circadian rhythm regulates arousal levels throughout the day and determines optimal periods for engaging in mental activities. Individuals differ in the time of day at which they reach their peak: Morning-type individuals are at their best in the morning and evening types perform better in the evening. Performance in recall and recognition of non-facial stimuli is generally superior at an individual’s circadian peak. In two studies (Ns = 103 and 324), we tested the effect of time-of-testing optimality on eyewitness identification performance. Morning- and evening-type participants viewed stimulus films depicting staged crimes and made identification decisions from target-present and target-absent lineups either at their optimal or non-optimal time-of-day. We expected that participants would make more accurate identification decisions and that the confidence-accuracy and decision time-accuracy relationships would be stronger at optimal compared to non-optimal time of day. In Experiment 1, identification accuracy was unexpectedly superior at non-optimal compared to optimal time of day in target-present lineups. In Experiment 2, identification accuracy did not differ between the optimal and non-optimal time of day. Contrary to our expectations, confidence-accuracy relationship was generally stronger at non-optimal compared to optimal time of day. In line with our predictions, non-optimal testing eliminated decision-time-accuracy relationship in Experiment 1.

Download Full-text

Long Retention Intervals Impair the Confidence-Accuracy Relationship for Eyewitness Recall

10.31234/osf.io/kv3sh ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Emily Rebecca Spearing ◽

Kimberley A. Wade

Keyword(s):

Retention Interval ◽

Cued Recall ◽

Eyewitness Confidence ◽

Eyewitness Accuracy ◽

Memory Accuracy ◽

Retrieval Fluency ◽

Retention Intervals ◽

Mock Crime ◽

Very High ◽

Accuracy Relationship

A growing body of research suggests that confidence judgements can provide a useful indicator of memory accuracy under some conditions. One factor known to affect eyewitness accuracy, yet rarely examined in the confidence-accuracy literature, is retention interval. Using calibration analyses, we investigated how retention interval affects the confidence-accuracy relationship for eyewitness recall. In total, 611 adults watched a mock crime video and completed a cued-recall test either immediately, after 1 week, or after 1 month. Long (1 month) delays led to lower memory accuracy, lower confidence judgements, and impaired the confidence-accuracy relationship compared to shorter (immediate and 1 week) delays. Long-delay participants who reported very high levels of confidence tended to be over-confident in the accuracy of their memories compared to other participants. Self-rated memory ability, however, did not predict eyewitness confidence or the confidence-accuracy relationship. We discuss the findings in relation to cue-utilization theory and a retrieval-fluency account.

Download Full-text

The confidence-accuracy relationship in eyewitness identification: The effects of reflection and disconfirmation on correlation and calibration.

Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied ◽

10.1037/1076-898x.8.1.44 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 44-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Neil Brewer ◽

Amber Keast ◽

Amanda Rishworth

Keyword(s):

Eyewitness Identification ◽

Accuracy Relationship

Download Full-text

The Effect of Pre-Event Instructions on Eyewitness Identification Stage 1 Registered Report Manuscript

10.31219/osf.io/sk5bc ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mario J. Baldassari ◽

Kara N. Moore ◽

Ira Hyman ◽

LORRAINE HOPE ◽

Eric Mah ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Exposure Duration ◽

Eyewitness Identification ◽

Identification Accuracy ◽

Identification Performance ◽

Identification Stage ◽

Lineup Identification ◽

Stage 1 ◽

Future Work

Research on eyewitness identification often involves exposing participants to a simulated crime and later testing memory using a lineup. We conducted a systematic review showing that pre-event instructions, instructions given before event exposure, are rarely reported and those that are reported vary in the extent to which they warn participants about the nature of event or tasks. At odds with the experience of actual witnesses, some studies use pre-event instructions explicitly warning participants of the upcoming crime and lineup task. Both the basic and applied literature provide reason to believe that pre-event instructions may impact eyewitness identification performance. In Experiment 1, we will test the effect of pre-event instructions on lineup identification decisions and confidence. Participants will receive non-specific pre-event instructions (i.e., “watch this video”) or eyewitness pre-event instructions (i.e., “watch this crime video, you’ll complete a line-up later”) and complete a culprit absent or present lineup. In Experiment 2, we will manipulate exposure duration and pre-event instructions to determine if pre-event instructions differentially impact high or low quality eyewitness events. If pre-event instructions impact eyewitness identification accuracy, then the findings of existing studies need to be considered in the context of their pre-event instructions and future work will be needed to determine how instructions interact with existing systems and estimator variables.

Download Full-text

Measurement of Trace Strength in Memory for Pictures

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/14640747808400674 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 263-281 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

David Gaffan

Keyword(s):

Retention Interval ◽

Test Trial ◽

Linear Function ◽

Retention Test ◽

Exposure Duration ◽

Recognition Task ◽

Trace Strength

Four experiments using a yes-no recognition task with snapshots examined (1) the effect of presenting not one but two items simultaneously, either both targets or both distractors, for a single judgment at a retention test trial; (2) the rate of forgetting; (3) the interaction between retention interval and the exposure duration at acquisition; (4) acquisition as a function of the number of times a picture was presented. In each case performance was assessed by calculating the discriminability index d′. The results supported the hypotheses that trace strength is lognormally distributed, that forgetting is exponential, and that in acquisition trace strength is a linear function of the number of presentations.

Download Full-text