Brief Exposure to Misinformation Can Lead to Long-Term False Memories
Bi Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, USA
Search for more papers by this authorChuansheng Chen
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Elizabeth F. Loftus
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, USA
Elizabeth F. Loftus, University of California, Irvine, 2393 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA, USA 92697; Qi Dong, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China.
E-mail: Elizabeth F. Loftus, [email protected]; Qi Dong, [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorQinghua He
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorChunhui Chen
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorXuemei Lei
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorChongde Lin
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Qi Dong
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Elizabeth F. Loftus, University of California, Irvine, 2393 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA, USA 92697; Qi Dong, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China.
E-mail: Elizabeth F. Loftus, [email protected]; Qi Dong, [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorBi Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, USA
Search for more papers by this authorChuansheng Chen
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Elizabeth F. Loftus
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, USA
Elizabeth F. Loftus, University of California, Irvine, 2393 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA, USA 92697; Qi Dong, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China.
E-mail: Elizabeth F. Loftus, [email protected]; Qi Dong, [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorQinghua He
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorChunhui Chen
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorXuemei Lei
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorChongde Lin
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Qi Dong
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China
Elizabeth F. Loftus, University of California, Irvine, 2393 Social Ecology II, Irvine, CA, USA 92697; Qi Dong, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, China.
E-mail: Elizabeth F. Loftus, [email protected]; Qi Dong, [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Do false memories last? And do they last as long as true ones? This study investigated whether experimentally created false memories would persist for an extended period (one and a half years). A large number of subjects (N = 342) participated in a standard three-stage misinformation procedure (saw the event slides, read the narrations with misinformation, and then took the memory tests). The initial tests showed that misinformation led to a significant amount of false memory. One and a half years later, the participants were tested again. About half of the misinformation false memory persisted, which was the same rate as for true memory. These results strongly suggest that brief exposure to misinformation can lead to long-term false memory and that the strength of memory trace was similar for true and false memories. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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