title: Emotional discussions reduce memory recall.
abstract: People often discuss events they have seen and these discussions can influence later recollections. We investigated the effects of factual, emotional, and free retelling discussion on memory recollections of individuals who have witnessed an event. Participants were shown a video, made an initial individual recall, participated in one of the three retelling conditions (emotional versus factual versus free) or a control condition, and then recalled the event individually again. Participants in the factual and free retelling conditions reported more items not previously recalled than participants in the control condition did, while the emotional condition did not show the same advantage. Participants in all three retelling conditions failed to report more previously recalled items as compared with the control condition. Finally, a memory conformity effect was observed for all three retelling conditions. These findings suggest that eyewitnesses' discussions may influence the accuracy of subsequent memory reports, especially when these discussions are focused on emotional details and thoughts.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Education, Psychology, Communication , University of Bari "Aldo Moro" , Bari , Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Soleti
authors.affiliation: b ACT , Iowa City , IA , US.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: a Department of Education, Psychology, Communication , University of Bari "Aldo Moro" , Bari , Italy.
authors.forename: Antonietta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Curci
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Eyewitness testimony; emotional retelling; factual retelling; memory accuracy; memory conformity