Eyewitness identification performance is not affected by time-of-day optimality

Area of Science:

• Chronopsychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Forensic Psychology

Background:

• Circadian rhythms regulate daily arousal and cognitive performance peaks.
• Individual differences exist in morning-type and evening-type chronotypes.
• Optimal cognitive function, including memory recall, typically occurs at an individual's circadian peak.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of time-of-testing optimality on eyewitness identification accuracy.
• To examine how circadian timing affects the relationship between confidence and accuracy in eyewitness identification.
• To explore the influence of optimal testing times on decision time-accuracy correlations in eyewitness memory.

Main Methods:

• Two studies involving 103 and 324 participants, categorized as morning- or evening-types.
• Participants viewed staged crime films and performed identification tasks using target-present and target-absent lineups.
• Testing occurred at either the participant's optimal or non-optimal time of day relative to their chronotype.

Main Results:

• Contrary to hypotheses, Experiment 1 showed superior identification accuracy at non-optimal times for target-present lineups.
• Experiment 2 found no significant difference in identification accuracy between optimal and non-optimal testing times.
• The confidence-accuracy relationship was stronger at non-optimal times, while the decision time-accuracy relationship was eliminated under non-optimal conditions in Experiment 1.

Conclusions:

• Circadian timing does not consistently enhance eyewitness identification accuracy.
• The relationship between confidence and accuracy in eyewitness identification may be stronger when tested at non-optimal circadian times.
• Non-optimal testing conditions can alter the predictive value of decision times for eyewitness accuracy.