The effects of information on others' eyewitness memories and delay of recognition on the conformable eyewitness memories to others

Abstract

In this study, we focused on the effect of the information of others' memories and of the delay of recognition on conformable eyewitness memories to others. A 2 (delay: no delay vs. one week) × 2 (experimental group vs. control group) experimental design was employed (both factors were between-subjects variables), and experiments were carried out by four participants per session (a total of 85 participants). First, in a recognition task about a video clip, participants in the experimental group were shown "false responses by others." After that, participants undertook a similar recognition task and a Remember/Know judgment task about these items. As a result, the participants that took the task after one week showed a higher conformity response rate to the false responses others' than participants that took the task immediately after encoding. Moreover, the participants in the experimental group showed a higher Remember-judgment rate in wrong answers than participants in the control group. These results suggest that even though testimony taken from an eyewitness group may be concrete and clear, it is possible that it does not reflect his/her true experience exactly.