Abstract
The issue of whether misleading postevent information affects performance on the modified recognition test introduced by McCloskey and Zaragoza (1985) was examined in a meta-analysis. Results indicated that a misinformation effect can be obtained with the modified test. The meta-analysis also revealed that recognition hit rates are higher in studies that yield a misinformation effect than in studies in which the misinformation effect is not significant. The data from the meta-analysis were also used to assess whether the misinformation effect is related to the length of the retention interval. Results showed that a misinformation effect is more likely to be obtained with long retention intervals, although in the available data there is a confound between the length of the retention interval and the recognition level obtained.
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We thank Robert Belli, Carla Chandler, Elizabeth Loftus, Kathleen McDermott, Henry L. Roediger III, and Jonathan Schooler for their comments on early versions of this manuscript.
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Payne, D.G., Toglia, M.P. & Anastasi, J.S. Recognition performance level and the magnitude of the misinformation effect in eyewitness memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 1, 376–382 (1994). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213978
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213978