Final answer:
Research by Elizabeth Loftus indicates that re-telling accident details or interpreting eyewitness testimony can lead to unintentional memory alterations where the confidence in memory may increase but not necessarily its accuracy, aligning with option D.
Step-by-step explanation:
Research in the field of psychology indicates that when an individual re-tells details of an accident or interprets eyewitness testimony, there is a phenomenon at play that can affect the accuracy and confidence of the memory. The misinformation effect, as studied by Elizabeth Loftus, demonstrates that an eyewitness's memory can be influenced by the phrasing of questions, leading to altered recollections of the event. For example, the use of different verbs like 'smashed' or 'hit' when asking participants to estimate the speed of vehicles in a car accident can affect their speed estimations, showing how easily memory can be reconstructed and therefore, potentially less accurate.
Knowing this, the correct answer to the student's question about how the accuracy of memory and confidence change when re-telling an accident is: D. may not increase, but your confidence in your memory likely will. As seen in Loftus' extensive research, the retelling of events can lead to increased confidence in the memory, even if the accuracy is not necessarily improved, due to reconstructive memory processes and the influences of external suggestions.