Abstract
This study investigates whether free recall immediately after the witnessed event prevents source misattribution. One half of 60 participants watched an emotionally-stressful videotaped movie, while the other half watched an emotionally-neutral one. Immediately after viewing the movies, the participants performed free recall concerning the contents of the movies. Then, they answered a questionnaire, which included misinformation about details of the movies. After two days, the participants undertook a source monitoring test, which required them to select the source of particular details; whether presented in the movie itself, in the questionnaire, in both, or in neither. The results indicated that immediate free recall reduced the incidence of source misattribution, and that this reduction was greater in the emotional condition than in the neutral condition, particularly for details relating to the gist of the movies. These results suggest that free recall immediately after the witnessed event makes the memories of the witnessed event more robust, especially for details related to impressionistic aspects of the event.
