ASSESSING THE ACCURACY OF CONFLICTING AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES

We examined criteria that rememberers and neutral audiences use to val idate conflicting memories. In Experiment I, rememberers described an incident that they recalled differently from someone else from their o wn and the other person's perspective. Rememberers and audiences then evaluated the accuracy of statements in both accounts, explained their accuracy ratings, and appraised the qualities of the memories. In Exp eriment 2, dyads who possessed conflicting memories of a shared past e pisode evaluated each other's recollections. In both studies, remember ers rated their own recollections as more accurate than other people's and based their judgments primarily on the internal coherence of the memories. Rememberers used consensus more frequently and sensory detai l less often to evaluate other people's memories than their own. Audie nces (Experiment 1) reported examining the consistency between the acc ounts and their own experiences; they also used consensus and normativ e behavior to a greater extent than rememberers. In both studies, reme mberers judged their own accounts to be more detailed and coherent. Th eir ratings of detail and coherence predicted their ratings of accurac y.