Recent research using a calibration approach indicates that eyewitness confidence assessments obtained immediately after a positive identification decision provide a useful guide as to the likely accuracy of the identification. This study extended research on the boundary conditions of the confidence-accuracy (CA) relationship by varying the retention interval between encoding and identification test. Participants (N = 1,063) viewed one of five different targets in a community setting and attempted an identification from an 8-person target-present or -absent lineup either immediately or several weeks later. Compared to the immediate condition, the delay condition produced greater overconfidence and lower diagnosticity. However, for choosers at both retention intervals there was a meaningful CA relationship and diagnosticity was much stronger at high than low confidence levels.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	eyewitness memory, eyewitness identification, confidence
Research Division:	Psychology
Research Group:	Applied and developmental psychology
Research Field:	Forensic psychology
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in psychology
UTAS Author:	Sauer, J (Associate Professor Jim Sauer)
ID Code:	95948
Year Published:	2010
Web of Science® Times Cited:	99
Deposited By:	Psychology
Deposited On:	2014-10-13
Last Modified:	2014-11-24
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