The misinformation effect is the finding that a person's recall of an event becomes less accurate when they are exposed to misleading information about that event after it happened. Elizabeth Loftus pioneered its study in the 1970s; her best-known demonstration showed subjects slides of a car accident, then exposed some of them to a false post-event description (a stop sign misdescribed as a yield sign), after which those subjects were significantly more likely to misremember having seen the false detail.
Facts
Core ClaimPost-event information can distort episodic memory of an earlier event; three proposed mechanisms are blending (the original and the misleading information merge), overwriting (the false information replaces the original memory trace), and a recency effect (the more recently encountered misleading information is retrieved more easily than the older original). 1 FAQs
Can a warning about misleading information protect memory?
According to Elizabeth Loftus, in a review in the journal Learning and Memory: "Warnings about the potential for misinformation sometimes work to inhibit its damaging effects, but only under limited circumstances."
Connections
Associated With
This experiment is the founding demonstration of the misinformation effect.
Developed By
Source Wikipedia: Misinformation Effect
In Branch
Source Wikipedia: Misinformation Effect
Source Wikipedia: Misinformation Effect
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Misinformation Effect
Wikimedia FoundationLead section and Classic Experiment
The misinformation effect occurs when a person's recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information.
Introduction
Scientists suggest that because the misleading information is the most recent, it is more easily retrieved.
History
Loftus and colleagues conducts early misinformation effect studies in 1974 and 1978.
- Developed By: Elizabeth Loftus
In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Neurological causes section
Retrieval of true memories was associated with greater reactivation of sensory-specific cortices, for example, the occipital cortex for vision.
In Branch: Forensic Psychology, Daily applications, eyewitness testimony section
After witnessing a crime or accident there may be opportunities for witnesses to interact and share information.
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