The Misinformation Effect: Trace Alteration or Coexistence

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The (Mis)information Effect Trace Alteration or
Coexistence?

• Heather Flowe

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Updateble Memory Hypothesis
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Loftus (1978) Procedure
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Loftus, Miller, Burns (1978)
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Standard vs. Modified Test

• McCloskey Zaragoza (1985) developed the
  modified test to control for encoding failure and
  response bias.

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Payne, Toglia, Anastasi (1994)

• Performed meta-analysis of MI effect using 48
  cases from 11 research articles.
• Control Group performance better than Misled
  Group (75.8 v. 71.7)
• MI effect larger in studies using long rather
  than short retention intervals.
• Control Group performance better for long rather
  than short retention intervals.

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Payne, Toglia, Anastasi (1994)

• Age of Subject and Retention Interval Possibly
  Confounded
• Short RI Adult MI Effect .03 Child MI Effect
  .02
• Long RI Adult MI Effect .03 Child MI Effect
  .09
• Pictorial Stimuli not analyzed separately
• Chandlers data account for 54 of the effect
  size
• Chandler MI Effect .05 Event MI Effect .02

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Present Meta-Analysis
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Meta-Analysis

• MI Effect obtained on the Standard Test for all
  groups.
• No MI Effect obtained on Modified Test for Adult
  Event studies.

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Comparison of Windschitl (1996) Chandler
(1989,1991)
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Meta-Analysis

• For Nature Scenes, response fully recovers.
• For Faces, response recovers but there is
  evidence of decay.

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Meta-Analysis

• Control group performed better than Misled group
  at Long retention intervals.
• But, MI presented immediately before test.

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Summary of Findings

• No MI effect on Modified Test for Adult Event
  Studies.
• MI Effect for children on both Standard and
  Modified Tests.
• Evidence for response recovery in Pictorial
  Studies.

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Critical Event Exposure Duration
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Applied Issues

• Kassin et al. (2001) found the majority of
  psychological experts agreed that the MI effect
  was reliable.

Percentage of Experts