Misinformation effect
The misinformation effect occurs when a person's recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information.
[5] Essentially, the new information that a person receives works backward in time to distort memory of the original event.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from 2010 pointed to certain brain areas which were especially active when false memories were retrieved.
Results showed that some participants created false memories, reporting the verbal misinformation conflicting with the photographs.
[14] During the original event phase, increased activity in left the fusiform gyrus and the right temporal/occipital cortex was found which may have reflected the attention to visual detail, associated with later accurate memory for the critical item(s) and thus resulted in resistance to the effects of later misinformation.
[14] Retrieval of true memories was associated with greater reactivation of sensory-specific cortices, for example, the occipital cortex for vision.
[16][20][18] Contrary to this perspective, however, other studies hold that older adults may make fewer mistakes when it comes to the misinformation effect than younger ones, depending on the type of question being asked and the skillsets required in the recall.
Participants performed a dual task: simultaneously remembering a word list and judging the accuracy of arithmetic statements.
[16] Furthermore, research indicates that people are more susceptible to misinformation when they are more cooperative, dependent on rewards, and self-directed and have lower levels of fear of negative evaluation.
The psychologists argued that participants with higher imagery abilities were more likely to form vivid images of the misleading information at encoding or at retrieval, therefore increasing susceptibility.
However, there was no difference between the no-confederate and no-discussion conditions, providing evidence that discussion (without misinformation) is neither harmful nor beneficial to memory accuracy.
[16] Assefi and Garry (2002) found that participants who believed they had consumed alcohol showed results of the misinformation effect on recall tasks.
[33] Arousal induced after learning reduces source confusion, allowing participants to better retrieve accurate details and reject misinformation.
One school of thought supports the idea that sleep can increase individuals' vulnerability to the misinformation effect.
[37] In contrast, a different school of thought holds that sleep deprivation leads to greater vulnerability to the misinformation effect.
Additionally, witnesses are more likely to be swayed by misinformation when they are suffering from alcohol withdrawal[30][40] or sleep deprivation,[30][41] when interviewers are firm as opposed to friendly,[30][42] and when participants experience repeated questioning about the event.
[30][43] The misinformation effect can have dire consequences on decision making that can have harmful personal and public outcomes in a variety of circumstances.
As with Source Misattribution, attempts to unroot misinformation can have lingering unaddressed effects that do not display in short term examination.
The presence of these confirmatory messages can serve to validate the misinformation as presented, making it more difficult to unroot the problem.
While this would intuitively be a good means of portraying the information to be inaccurate, this type of direct opposition has been linked to an increase in misinformation belief.
Some evidence has been shown to suggest that those suffering from the misinformation effect can often tell they are reporting inaccurate information but are insufficiently confident in their own recollections to act on this impression.
[47] As such, some research suggests that increased self-confidence, such as in the form of self-affirmative messages and positive feedback, can weaken the misinformation effect.
This theory posits that a test, applied prior to the introduction of misleading information, can help maintain the accuracy of the memories developed after that point.
This model holds that the use of questions rather than declaratory statements prevents the misinformation effect from developing, even when the same information is presented in both scenarios.
The advocates of this view hold that this occurs because the mind incorporates definitive statements into itself, whereas it does not integrate questions as easily.
[16] Current research on the misinformation effect presents numerous implications for our understanding of human memory overall.
In the modified test condition, post-event information was not limited to one item, instead participants had the option of the hammer and another tool (a wrench, for example).
Examples of such memories include fabricated stories about participants getting lost in the supermarket or shopping mall as children.
[7][9] Late-arriving bystanders or members of the media may ask witnesses to recall the event before law enforcement or legal representatives have the opportunity to interview them.
[30] Collaborative recall may lead to a more accurate account of what happened, as opposed to individual responses that may contain more untruths after the fact.
