Recognition instructions and recognition practice can alter the confidence--response time relationship

Abstract

Three face-recognition experiments examined how instructions for a recognition test (e.g., emphasize speed or emphasize accuracy) can impact the confidence-response time relationship for episodic memory reports. In all 3 experiments, the confidence-response time correlation was smaller when participants were told to speed up their responding rate, which suggests that participants in these conditions relied less on the artificially compressed response times in forming their confidence judgments than they would under "normal" circumstances. Also, recognition practice before the final memory test eliminated the effect of the recognition instruction manipulation. These results support J. S. Shaw's (1996) suggestion that witnesses rely in part on the fluency of their memory reports when generating confidence judgments, and these findings have important implications for understanding the relationships among witness confidence, accuracy, and response time.