Judgments of Learning Reactively Improve Eyewitness Recognition in a Mock Theft Scenario

Judgments of Learning (JOLs) reactively improve recognition of lexical study materials (e.g., word lists and cue-target pairs). However, it remains unclear whether reactivity is limited to lexical materials or if it can extend to other memory contexts. We explored this possibility by testing whether JOLs would enhance recognition in an eyewitness memory paradigm. In one experiment, participants viewed a brief mock theft video. Following the video presentation, JOL group participants predicted their ability to identify the culprit in a target-present lineup and reject a target-absent lineup. All participants then completed a simultaneous lineup test, either target-present or target-absent. Compared to a control group, participants who made JOLs more often selected the culprit in target-present lineups and were more likely to reject target-absent lineups. Findings from ROC analyses suggested that this pattern may have reflected improved discrimination rather than a simple shift in response bias. Taken together, our findings show that JOLs can reactively improve recognition of non-lexical stimuli and suggest that a brief metacognitive prompt administered following an event may enhance eyewitness identification.