Witnesses who Experience Inattentional Blindness are Only Less Accurate and Confident Under Cued Compared to Free Recall

Abstract

Inattentional blindness - failing to notice an obvious and unexpected event when attention is focused elsewhere - has been shown to have different effects on recall quantity and quality in previous research. In the current study, we explored whether the type of recall task can explain these reporting differences for witnesses who have experienced inattentional blindness for a crime. Two-hundred and six participants viewed a video containing an unexpected physical assault while completing an attention-demanding task. Whether they noticed the crime was assessed immediately afterwards. Following a filler task, they were exposed to post-event information (containing misinformation), and either completed a free or cued recall task. Compared to participants who noticed the crime, participants who experienced inattentional blindness were only less accurate and confident when completing cued recall. These findings further highlight the need to prioritize free recall in investigative interviews, especially when interviewing inattentive witnesses.