Aging, confidence, and misinformation: Recalling information with the cognitive interview.

Abstract

In 2 experiments, younger and older adults witnessed a simulated robbery, received misleading information about the event, and then were interviewed with the Cognitive Interview about their memory for the robbery. In both experiments, older adults were disproportionately more confident than younger adults in the accuracy of incorrect information that they recalled than in the accuracy of correct information. Critically, this age-related increase in high-confidence errors occurred even in comparison with younger adults who were matched with older adults on the overall amount and accuracy of the information remembered about the robbery. In addition, Experiment 2 showed that retrieval warnings to disregard the misinformation were just as effective in older adults as compared with younger adults at reducing the reporting of misleading information. Finally, both experiments showed that across the multiple retrieval stages of the Cognitive Interview, the final retrieval stage is roughly half as effective for older adults relative to younger adults at eliciting previously unreported information. These results indicate that investigators have much less to gain from older adults than they do from younger adults with repeated inquiries (during the same session) about a witnessed event.

False memories with age: Neural and cognitive underpinnings

“…It is evident that understanding the cognitive underpinnings of age-related increases in false memory susceptibility can inform strategies to improve memory accuracy in older adults. For instance, providing warnings of potential misinformation in memory accounts can reduce false alarms in older adults (Carmichael and Gutchess, 2015; Coane et al, 2015; Dodson et al, 2015; Watson et al, 2004). Moreover, directing attention towards differentiating information at encoding or retrieval (Dodson and Schacter, 2002; Koutstaal et al, 1999; Schacter et al, 1999), or encouraging careful consideration of source during recall (Henkel, 2008), also reduces age differences in false memories.…”

“…Moreover, older adults are poorly calibrated in determining the accuracy of their memories, in that they are more confident that these memory distortions represent reality (Cohen and Faulkner, 1989; Dehon and Brédart, 2004; Dodson and Krueger, 2006; Jacoby and Rhodes, 2006; Jacoby et al, 2010; Shing et al, 2009). Indeed, age differences in memory errors are greatest for decisions made with high confidence (Dodson et al, 2015; Fandakova et al, 2013b; Gallo et al, 2009; Tsukiura et al, 2014). Thus, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying increased false memory with age, as even eyewitness testimony from older adults given with high confidence may not be a reliable indicator of genuine accuracy.…”

“…Misinformation-based errors arise when inaccurate post-event information becomes accepted as part of the original memory. For instance, when participants watch a video of a robbery, and are later misinformed that the item stolen was a ring rather than a necklace, older adults are more likely than younger adults to remember seeing a ring stolen in the original video (Cohen and Faulkner, 1989; Dodson and Krueger, 2006; Dodson et al, 2015). If contextual cues informing the source of either the original or misleading information are not fully bound with the appropriate memory representation, there is a greater chance that the misinformation will be attributed to the incorrect source.…”

“…These results implicate age-related impairments in accurate retrieval monitoring processes above and beyond deficits in encoding or recollection. Further evidence shows that older adults use warnings given at retrieval about misleading information to reduce memory errors (Dodson et al, 2015; see also Coane et al, 2015; though see McCabe & Smith, 2002). Moreover, when older adults are provided with supportive instructions to focus on perceptual and contextual cues at retrieval, age-differences in imagination inflation are diminished (Henkel, 2008; Thomas and Bulevich, 2006).…”

False Recognition in Short-Term Memory – Age-Differences in Confidence

“…With regard to episodic memory, older adults have been shown to be more confident in their erroneous responses than younger adults (e.g., Jacoby and Rhodes, 2006;Shing et al, 2009;Wong et al, 2012;Fandakova et al, 2013a,b;Dodson et al, 2015). The current literature offers several possible (but not mutually exclusive) explanations for this phenomenon.…”