Graded Effects of Social Conformity on Recognition Memory

Previous studies have shown that the opinion of confederates in a group influences recognition memory, but inconsistent results have been obtained concerning the question of whether recognition of items as old and new are affected similarly, possibly because only one or two confederates are present during the recognition phase. Here, we present data from a study where recognition of novel faces was tested in the presence of four confederates. In a long version of this experiment, recognition of items as old and new was similarly affected by group responses. However, in the short version, recognition of old items depended proportionally on the number of correct group responses, while rejection of new items only decreased significantly when all confederates gave an incorrect response. These findings indicate that differential effects of social conformity on recognition of items as old and new occur in situations with an intermediate level of group pressure.