Abstract
Prior research on false memories has shown that suggestibility is often reduced when the presentation rate is slowed enough to allow monitoring. We examined whether slowing presentation speed would reduce factual errors learned from fictional stories. Would subjects use the extra time to detect the errors in the stories, reducing reproduction of these errors on a later test? Surprisingly, slowing presentation speed increased the production of story errors on a later general knowledge test. Instructing the reader to mark whether each sentence contained an error, however, did decrease suggestibility. Readers appear to passively accept information presented in stories and need a constant reminder to monitor for errors. These results highlight differences between typical episodic false memories and illusions of knowledge (such as learning from fiction). Manipulations that reduce suggestibility for episodic false memories do not always reduce suggestibility for illusions of knowledge.
Article PDF
References
Audacity Developer Team (2004). Audacity (Version 1.2.3) [Computer software]. Retrieved January 18, 2005, from audacity.sourceforge.net.
Balota, D. A., Cortese, M. J., Duchek, J. M., Adams, D., Roediger, H. L., III, McDermott, K. B., & Yerys, B. E. (1999). Veridical and false memories in healthy older adults and in dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 16, 361–384.
Ceci, S. J., & Bruck, M. (1993). Suggestibility of the child witness: A historical review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 403–439.
Erickson, T. D., & Mattson, M. E. (1981). From words to meaning: A semantic illusion. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 20, 540–551.
Fazio, L. K., & Marsh, E. J. (2008). Older, not younger, children learn more false facts from stories. Cognition, 106, 1081–1089.
Gallo, D. A., Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. (2001). Associative false recognition occurs without strategic criterion shifts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8, 579–586.
Gerrig, R. J., & Prentice, D. A. (1991). The representation of fictional information. Psychological Science, 2, 336–340.
Greene, E., Flynn, M. S., & Loftus, E. F. (1982). Inducing resistance to misleading information. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 21, 207–219.
Johnson, M. K., Hashtroudi, S., & Lindsay, D. S. (1993). Source monitoring. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 3–28.
Kamas, E. N., Reder, L. M., & Ayers, M. S. (1996). Partial matching in the Moses illusion: Response bias not sensitivity. Memory & Cognition, 24, 687–699.
Kelley, C. M., & Lindsay, D. S. (1993). Remembering mistaken for knowing: Ease of retrieval as a basis for confidence in answers to general knowledge questions. Journal of Memory & Language, 32, 1–24.
Marsh, E. J. (2004). Story stimuli for creating false beliefs about the world. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 650–655.
Marsh, E. J., Balota, D. A., & Roediger, H. L., III (2005). Learning facts from fiction: Effects of healthy aging and early-stage dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychology, 19, 115–129.
Marsh, E. J., & Fazio, L. K. (2006). Learning errors from fiction: Difficulties in reducing reliance on fictional stories. Memory & Cognition, 34, 1140–1149.
Marsh, E. J., Meade, M. L., & Roediger, H. L., III (2003). Learning facts from fiction. Journal of Memory & Language, 49, 519–536.
McCabe, D. P., & Smith, A. D. (2002). The effect of warnings on false memories in young and older adults. Memory & Cognition, 30, 1065–1077.
McDermott, K. B., & Watson, J. M. (2001). The rise and fall of false recall: The impact of presentation duration. Journal of Memory & Language, 45, 160–176.
Nelson, T. O., & Narens, L. (1980). Norms of 300 general-information questions: Accuracy of recall, latency of recall, and feeling-ofknowing ratings. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 19, 338–368.
Prentice, D. A., & Gerrig, R. J. (1999). Exploring the boundary between fiction and reality. In S. Chaiken & Y. Trope (Eds.), Dual-process theories in social psychology (pp. 529–546). New York: Guilford.
Prentice, D. A., Gerrig, R. J., & Bailis, D. S. (1997). What readers bring to the processing of fictional texts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 416–420.
Tousignant, J. P., Hall, D., & Loftus, E. F. (1986). Discrepancy detection and vulnerability to misleading postevent information. Memory & Cognition, 14, 329–338.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by a collaborative activity award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fazio, L.K., Marsh, E.J. Slowing presentation speed increases illusions of knowledge. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 15, 180–185 (2008). https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.1.180
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.15.1.180