Eyewitness confidence in the interviewing context: Understanding the impact of question type and order

Abstract

The relationship between confidence and accuracy and the reliability of eyewitness identifications has attracted a lot of attention. In contrast, relatively little is known about the relationship between eyewitness confidence and the accuracy of recall memory in interview contexts. Here, we manipulated questioning approaches to investigate the impact of Free-Recall and Cued-Recall questions, whereby the latter were witness-compatible (questions concerning details reported in the preceding Free-Recall) or witness-incompatible questions. We also manipulated the order these questions were asked. A sample of 124 mock witness participants watched a crime-video and subsequently recalled the event to understand the impact of question type and order on confidence-accuracy calibration. Our results show that a Free-Recall invitation and compatible (compared to incompatible) questions promoted more stable confidence. Compatible questions yielded fewer errors, more accurate details, and promoted more reliable confidence-accuracy calibration and discrimination, especially when they preceded the incompatible questions. Implications are discussed.