ABSTRACT
Memory judgments made by an individual may be affected by the memory judgments made by another individual, a phenomenon named memory conformity. It is unclear, however, whether memory conformity affects the well demonstrated positive relationship between accuracy and confidence, and more importantly, whether it affects the accuracy of high-confidence memory judgments. Here, we investigated these possibilities in three experiments wherein participants performed recognition followed by confidence judgments of studied and novel faces, after being exposed to the recognition responses of a fictional participant whose responses could be valid or invalid (74% and 26% of the responses, respectively). In all three experiments, accuracy for high confidence "old" and "new" responses was affected by the responses of the fictitious participant, with invalid responses producing consistent decreases in high confidence accuracy. In addition, confidence-accuracy characteristics (CAC) analysis revealed that invalid responses were particularly impactful on the assignment of confidence for faces judged as "new," a pattern that sheds light on prior findings regarding the effects of cueing on mean confidence. Thus, further than demonstrating that the exposition to the memory judgments of another person affects high confidence recognition, we show that such exposition produces distinct effects on the assignment of confidence for "new" versus "old" memory judgments.
Subject(s)
Judgment , Recognition, Psychology , Cues , Humans , Judgment/physiology , Recognition, Psychology/physiology , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
A conformidade de memória consiste em alterações dos relatos de memória de um indivíduo provocadas por relatos de memória de outro(s) indivíduo(s). Considerando a importância deste fenômeno no âmbito forense, especialmente na entrevista de testemunhas oculares, o objetivo do presente estudo é compreender melhor o fenômeno da conformidade de memória, e discutir suas implicações nas práticas de inquérito policial. Para isto, realizamos uma revisão narrativa de estudos de laboratório sobre conformidade de memória e de estudos sobre práticas de inquérito. A literatura indica que embora a investigação científica da conformidade de memória tenha apresentado grande avanço nas últimas duas décadas, a incorporação destes achados na prática forense brasileira ainda é lenta. No Brasil, a adoção de práticas de entrevista de testemunhas baseadas em evidência ainda depende de infraestrutura adequada, além de alterações legislativas e em procedimentos administrativos, policiais e jurídicos.
Memory conformity consists of changes in the memory reports of an individual caused by the memory reports of another individual. Considering the importance of this phenomenon to forensic practices, especially to eyewitness testimony interview, the goal of the present study was to discuss the current scientific knowledge about this phenomenon, and to consider its implications to public inquiry practices. For this purpose, the current narrative review included laboratory studies on memory conformity and studies on public inquiry practices. The literature suggests that although the scientific investigation on memory conformity has made great progress in the last two decades, the inclusion of the knowledge produced by this progress in Brazilian forensic practices remains scant. That is, the adoption of evidence-based eyewitness interview practices in Brazil still depends on infrastructure improvements, as well as changes on legislation and on several legal procedures.
La conformidad de memoria consiste en cambios en los informes de memoria de un individuo causados por los informes de memoria de otro individuo. Considerando la importancia de este fenómeno en la esfera forense, especialmente en la entrevista de testigos, el objetivo del presente estudio es mejor comprender el fenómeno de conformidad de memoria y discutir sus implicaciones en las prácticas de investigación policial. Para este propósito, llevamos a cabo una revisión narrativa en estudios de laboratorio sobre la conformidad de memoria y estudios sobre las prácticas de investigación. La literatura indica que, aunque la investigación científica de la conformidad de memoria ha avanzado mucho en las últimas dos décadas, la incorporación de estos hallazgos en la práctica forense brasileña aún es lenta. En Brasil, la adopción de prácticas de entrevista a testigos presentadas en este artículo todavía depende de una infraestructura adecuada, además de los cambios legislativos y los procedimientos administrativos, policiales y legales.
