Intersections between metamemory and eyewitness testimony

Erroneous eyewitness testimony can have very negative consequences for society and criminal justice systems all over the world. That is because eyewitness testimony errors can motivate useless lines of investigation, or in more severe cases, contribute to the conviction of innocent suspects. On the other hand, accurate testimonies play an essential role in the prosecution of actual perpetrators, especially when other physical evidence is lacking. This chapter will summarize a new research line in the field of eyewitness testimony that examines the role of metamemory in how individuals remember and report criminal events. Metamemory is a construct used to describe the knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs individuals have about their own memory and the memory system in general. This chapter will present some of the key links between eyewitness testimony and metamemory research, including whether metamemory assessments can be used to estimate eyewitness memory performance and the role of metamemory as an underlying mechanism that gives rise to confidence statements.