Metacognitive Effects of Initial Question Difficulty on Subsequent Eyewitness Memory Performance

•Changes in subjective experience, due to initial question difficulty, affect free-report eyewitness memory performance.•The effects of initial difficulty on free memory reporting are mediated by metacognitive monitoring and control processes.•Initially answering relatively difficult (versus easy) questions boosts confidence in the answers to subsequent questions.•Answering relatively difficult (versus easy) questions elevates the free reporting rate of answers to subsequent questions.•Preceding questions about a witnessed event by difficult (versus easy) questions yields more complete eyewitness reports.