Literature Review
Misinformation, the intentional or unintentional spread of false information, has been shown to alter, suppress, or impair a person’s memory of an original event (Loftus & Palmer, 1974). The earliest experiments that studied false memories found that additional postevent information provided to an eyewitness can alter that person’s memory of this event; when exposed to leading questions or additional information following the event, participants were more likely to forget the actual details of the event and answer with respect to the incorrect post-event information (Loftus & Palmer, 1974; Loftus, 1975; Loftus, 1977).
Since then, the misinformation effect has been extensively researched, and scientists have endeavored to gain more insight on this phenomenon. The correlation between misinformation and altered memories was numerically defined in 1989; Dr. Robert F. Belli estimated through his experiment that 32.6% of the control group’s correct responses resulted from their actual memory, whereas only 26% of the experimental, or misled, group’s correct responses resulted from their actual memories. This meant that the misled subjects suffered more than a 20% (6.6% of 32.6%) reduction in accuracy when compared to the control subjects. This reduction suggested that memory …show more content…
Methods to overcome the misinformation effect are the current focus of scientists (Higham, Blank, & Luna, 2017). Dr. Jacoby and his team looked into the recollection of change between two sets of words, and determined that thinking back to the items on the original list had resulted in increased detection and recollection of change (Jacoby et al, 2015). A meta-analysis also determined that warning people of misinformation after they witnessed an event reduced the misinformation effect (Blank & Launay,
Misinformation, the intentional or unintentional spread of false information, has been shown to alter, suppress, or impair a person’s memory of an original event (Loftus & Palmer, 1974). The earliest experiments that studied false memories found that additional postevent information provided to an eyewitness can alter that person’s memory of this event; when exposed to leading questions or additional information following the event, participants were more likely to forget the actual details of the event and answer with respect to the incorrect post-event information (Loftus & Palmer, 1974; Loftus, 1975; Loftus, 1977).
Since then, the misinformation effect has been extensively researched, and scientists have endeavored to gain more insight on this phenomenon. The correlation between misinformation and altered memories was numerically defined in 1989; Dr. Robert F. Belli estimated through his experiment that 32.6% of the control group’s correct responses resulted from their actual memory, whereas only 26% of the experimental, or misled, group’s correct responses resulted from their actual memories. This meant that the misled subjects suffered more than a 20% (6.6% of 32.6%) reduction in accuracy when compared to the control subjects. This reduction suggested that memory …show more content…
Methods to overcome the misinformation effect are the current focus of scientists (Higham, Blank, & Luna, 2017). Dr. Jacoby and his team looked into the recollection of change between two sets of words, and determined that thinking back to the items on the original list had resulted in increased detection and recollection of change (Jacoby et al, 2015). A meta-analysis also determined that warning people of misinformation after they witnessed an event reduced the misinformation effect (Blank & Launay,