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Avoiding Misattribution Errors through Recollection: Can Retrieval Practice Suppress the Illusory Truth Effect?

Brabender, Tim LU (2023) PSYP01 20231
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Misinformation is a major global issue and presents major negative impacts on many aspects of our lives. One of the factors facilitating misinformation belief is the illusory truth effect, the phenomenon of how repeated exposure to information can increase subjective truth. This occurs when processing fluency, caused by repeated exposure to an item, is misattributed to the truth status of an item. This study investigates if retrieval practice can suppress the illusory truth effect, after the first exposure to an information already happened. In a within-person study, participants were exposed to several trivia statements during an initial exposure phase. In a re-exposure phase, retrieval practice and a non-retrieval task were presented in... (More)
Misinformation is a major global issue and presents major negative impacts on many aspects of our lives. One of the factors facilitating misinformation belief is the illusory truth effect, the phenomenon of how repeated exposure to information can increase subjective truth. This occurs when processing fluency, caused by repeated exposure to an item, is misattributed to the truth status of an item. This study investigates if retrieval practice can suppress the illusory truth effect, after the first exposure to an information already happened. In a within-person study, participants were exposed to several trivia statements during an initial exposure phase. In a re-exposure phase, retrieval practice and a non-retrieval task were presented in alternating blocks. Finally, there was a truth rating phase accompanied by a warning about the illusory truth effect. Results indicate that there was a very small illusory truth effect. The retrieval practice intervention did not suppress the illusory truth effect when compared to the non-retrieval task. Furthermore, examining the effect of processing fluency revealed that successfully recollected statements were processed more fluently than when they were not recollected. The findings suggest that recollection alone cannot suppress the illusory truth effect and that more emphasis should be placed on the process of correctly attributing processing fluency to a prior exposure. This study contributes to the discourse about effective measures to reduce the illusory truth effect and misinformation belief. (Less)
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author
Brabender, Tim LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
illusory truth effect, misinformation, retrieval practice, recollection, misattribution, processing fluency
language
English
id
9136662
date added to LUP
2023-09-07 11:15:15
date last changed
2023-09-07 11:15:15
@misc{9136662,
  abstract     = {{Misinformation is a major global issue and presents major negative impacts on many aspects of our lives. One of the factors facilitating misinformation belief is the illusory truth effect, the phenomenon of how repeated exposure to information can increase subjective truth. This occurs when processing fluency, caused by repeated exposure to an item, is misattributed to the truth status of an item. This study investigates if retrieval practice can suppress the illusory truth effect, after the first exposure to an information already happened. In a within-person study, participants were exposed to several trivia statements during an initial exposure phase. In a re-exposure phase, retrieval practice and a non-retrieval task were presented in alternating blocks. Finally, there was a truth rating phase accompanied by a warning about the illusory truth effect. Results indicate that there was a very small illusory truth effect. The retrieval practice intervention did not suppress the illusory truth effect when compared to the non-retrieval task. Furthermore, examining the effect of processing fluency revealed that successfully recollected statements were processed more fluently than when they were not recollected. The findings suggest that recollection alone cannot suppress the illusory truth effect and that more emphasis should be placed on the process of correctly attributing processing fluency to a prior exposure. This study contributes to the discourse about effective measures to reduce the illusory truth effect and misinformation belief.}},
  author       = {{Brabender, Tim}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Avoiding Misattribution Errors through Recollection: Can Retrieval Practice Suppress the Illusory Truth Effect?}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}