title: Do older adults change their eyewitness reports when re-questioned?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined how older adults responded to different types of pressure to change their responses when questioned a second time about their memory for a crime.
  
  
  METHODS
  After watching a video of a crime and answering questions about remembered details, younger (18-22 years) and older adults (64-91 years) were either given negative feedback about their memory performance, were told that most people their age did poorly on the memory test (stereotype threat), or were simply asked to answer the questions again. This was done regardless of their actual accuracy, and the questions were then repeated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that both younger and older adults changed significantly more responses following negative feedback and changed more responses on misleading than on nonleading questions. Among older adults, as age increased, accuracy decreased and rate of response change increased. People were moderately confident overall about both their correct and incorrect responses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results highlight the dangers of repeatedly questioning older witnesses with misleading questions and suggest that the responses that are changed may come to be remembered confidently-regardless of whether they are correct or incorrect.
authors.affiliation: Correspondence should be addressed to Linda A. Henkel, Department of Psychology, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 06824. E-mail: lhenkel@fairfield.edu.
authors.forename: Linda A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Henkel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003142:Communication; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D030141:Feedback, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013404:Suggestion; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Compliance; Eyewitness suggestibility; Interrogative pressure; Negative feedback.