Reinstatement of context following exposure to post-event information

In an earlier study, Jenkins & Davies (1985) reported significant interference to facial memory from exposure to an erroneous composite picture of a target in the interval between observation and test. Subjects (n = 194) in the present experiment first viewed a videotaped incident depicting a male target and then received a composite of the target which was designed to present either correct or misleading information concerning his appearance. Control subjects received no composite of the target. Following a delay of one week, all subjects were required to recall the appearance of the target in a cued recall questionnaire and to recognize him from a photospread. For half of the subjects, the context of the original incident was revived by means of a guided memory interview, modelled on Malpass & Devine (1981). The remaining subjects received no contextual reinstatement but simply completed recall and recognition tests. For subjects receiving no contextual reinstatement, interference in facial memory from the composites was observed both for recall and recognition of the target. However, for subjects in the context both for recall and recognition of the target. However, for subjects in the context condition, significant reductions in the influence of the misleading composites were observed. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.