Individual Differences in Eyewitness Recall Accuracy

Abstract

Fifty-two American college students appraised their observational accuracy on an 8-item scale prior to viewing an unexpected videotaped crime: a neutral scenario of students studying outdoors or a similar scenario, which ended with a purse snatching. Immediately after viewing and also 48 hr later, they were asked 10 descriptive questions about what they had seen. Self-reported ability to remember detail was significantly correlated with accuracy in overall memory for specifics and memory of specifics about the female target. Self-appraisal of ability to describe people was significantly correlated with memory of color details for the female target. These effects did not differ between the emotional and neutral groups. Findings are discussed in terms of the confidence-accuracy debate in the legal system.