Flashbacks of fake news? You may have a better factual memory

The results of the study showed that misinformation reminders increased the ability of participants to recall facts and belief accuracy.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Fake news [Illustrative] (photo credit: PIXABAY)
Fake news [Illustrative]
(photo credit: PIXABAY)
New research has found that people who receive reminders of past misinformation may form new factual memories with greater fidelity and belief, according to an article recently published in the Journal Psychological Science.
Previous research has found that the more you encounter the same misinformation, such as world governments covering up the existence of a flying saucer, the more familiar and even believable the false information becomes.
Nevertheless, the new research has found that reminders of past misinformation can help protect against remembering misinformation as true, which will also improve the recollection of real-world events and information.
"Reminding people of previous encounters with fake news can improve memory and beliefs for facts that correct misinformation," said Christopher Wahlheim, a lead author on the paper and assistant professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. "This suggests that pointing out conflicting information could improve the comprehension of truth in some situations."
The researchers, Wahlheim and his colleagues, conducted two experiments examining whether reminders of misinformation could improve memory for and beliefs in corrections.  The participants in the study were shown corrections of news and information they may have seen in the past.
In this case, past misinformation appeared before some corrections, but not others.
Similarly, the results of the study showed that misinformation reminders increased the ability of participants to recall facts and belief accuracy. According to the researchers, this indicates that misinformation reminders raise awareness of discrepancies and promote memory updating.
"It suggests that there may be benefits to learning how someone was being misleading. This knowledge may inform strategies that people use to counteract high exposure to misinformation spread for political gain," Wahlheim said.


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Fake news
Psychology