Adults are just as susceptible to memory suggestibility when reporting about single and repeated events

Exposure to misleading suggestive questions can distort adults’ memory for single events, but it is unclear whether this is also the case following a repeated event, such as domestic abuse and sexual harassment. Participants viewed one (single event, n = 56) or four videos (repeated event) depicting domestic abuse. One-week after the only, or the final instance, participants were exposed to misleading suggestive questions about non-experienced details, before providing a final recall report about the target instance. Repeated-event participants were either prompted to recall the last instance (n = 55), or the instance they “remember best” (n = 56). No differences in suggestibility across conditions emerged; however, suggestibility rates were still high (~ 50%). Repeat-best participants produced a similarly accurate report about the target instance as the single-event participants, but a more accurate report than repeat-last participants. The outcomes of the study suggest that investigative interviewers should avoid asking misleading questions as they risk distorting memory, regardless of whether the event has occurred once or repeatedly. Furthermore, interviewers may find it more productive to prompt repeated-event interviewees to nominate which instance they wish to discuss (i.e., the time remembered best), as this may help improve the accuracy of their report.