Factors contributing to the believability of memory narratives

Poster Session D - Monday, April 15, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Lynn Nadel¹ (nadel@arizona.edu), Kate Simon²; ¹University of Arizona, ²UC Irvine

Sharing memories are a fundamental way humans communicate with, and relate to, each other. Factors influencing whether these retold memories are credible or not are poorly understood. While forensic testimony appears to be influenced by factors such as age, race, or the confidence with which one reports the memory, the evaluation of everyday memories has been minimally studied. We investigated whether the details provided in memory narratives influence credibility ratings. Details were studied by using definitions first suggested by Levine et al. (2002), who identified two types of narrative details: internal and external. Internal details are those directly connected to the episodic aspects of the memory, while external details refer to tangentially-related semantic facts or depictions not directly related to the main event. We created a series of narratives that varied the number and type of internal and external details, and across several studies our 825 participants rated these narratives for perceived credibility or saliency. We show that internal details are more effective than external details in enhancing credibility ratings and that internal details related to people had the greatest impact on credibility judgements. Our results provide a new lens through which to understand credibility judgements both in forensic and everyday contexts.

Topic Area: OTHER