Recognition instructions and recognition practice can alter the confidence--response time relationship.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Forensic Psychology
• Memory Studies

Background:

• The relationship between response time, accuracy, and confidence in episodic memory is crucial for understanding eyewitness testimony.
• Previous research suggests that response times can influence confidence judgments, but the role of specific instructions is less clear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how instructions emphasizing speed versus accuracy affect the confidence-response time relationship in face recognition.
• To determine if prior recognition practice mitigates the impact of such instructions on memory reports.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments involving face recognition tasks were conducted.
• Participants received different instructions (emphasizing speed or accuracy) for the recognition test.
• Confidence ratings and response times were recorded for memory reports.
• Recognition practice was administered in some conditions before the final test.

Main Results:

• The correlation between confidence and response time was significantly smaller when participants were instructed to prioritize speed.
• This suggests that participants under speed instructions relied less on response time fluency for confidence judgments.
• Recognition practice prior to the test abolished the effect of the speed/accuracy instruction manipulation.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the theory that memory report fluency influences confidence judgments, as proposed by J. S. Shaw (1996).
• These results have significant implications for evaluating the reliability of eyewitness confidence, accuracy, and response time data.
• Understanding these relationships is vital for legal contexts involving eyewitness identification.