It happened as I said: Effects of Retellings on Eyewitnesses Event Memory

当向他人描述一个感知到的事件时，沟通者会根据听众的需要调整信息。该项目研究了受众“调谐”的信息如何改变或偏向传播者对原始事件的记忆和评估方式。鉴于之前的研究主要是将目击者作为来自其他来源的有偏见信息的接受者进行研究，本项目侧重于目击者在与他人交流的过程中如何产生自己的记忆偏见。要改变的一个关键因素是“共享现实”，它捕捉到传播者如何与他们正在调整的人进行交流（例如，他们是否觉得他们与听众达成了共同的观点）。我们提出了一系列七个实验，在这些实验中，我们操纵共享现实创造的可能性（事件的高与低不确定性；共享现实与观众调整的工具目标；积极与消极的观众反馈；合适与不合适的观众）。除了标准的记忆测量之外，我们还采用源记忆测试来探索表现出更大（相对较低）记忆偏差的目击者是否不太可能正确区分目击事件的信息和传达的信息。这种合作特别有希望，因为它将杰拉尔德·埃奇特霍夫在社会影响的理论方法和对潜在过程的严格实验调查方面的专业知识与阿米娜·梅蒙在实际应用和强调生态有效性的实验方面的长期经验联系起来。从基础和应用的角度来看，这个项目的新见解都是有用的，例如，通过更好地理解决定目击者证词准确性的因素。

When describing a perceived event to others, a communicator will tailor the message to the audience. The project examines how a message which is ‘tuned’ to the audience can change or bias the way in which the original event is remembered and evaluated by the communicator. Whereas previous research has studied eyewitnesses primarily as recipients of biasing information from other sources, the present project focuses on how eyewitnesses produce their own memory biases during the process of communication with others. A key factor to be varied is ‘shared reality,’ which captures how communicators experience the communication with the person they are tuning to (e.g., whether they feel they achieve a joint view with their audience). A series of seven experiments is proposed in which we manipulate the likelihood of shared reality creation (high vs. low uncertainty about the event; sharedreality vs. instrumental goals for audience tuning; positive vs. negative audience feedback; appropriate vs. inappropriate audience). In addition to the standard memory measures, we also employ source-memory tests to explore whether eyewitnesses exhibiting a greater (vs. lower) memory bias are less likely to discriminate correctly between information from the witnessed event and communicated information. This collaboration is especially promising because it links and integrates Gerald Echterhoff’s expertise in theoretical approaches to social influence and rigorous experimental investigation of underlying processes with Amina Memon’s long-standing experience in practical applications and experimentation emphasizing ecological validity. The novel insights from this project will be useful from both a basic and an applied perspective, for instance by providing a better understanding of the factors determining the accuracy of eyewitness testimony.