title: Comparing the influence of directly vs. indirectly encountered post-event misinformation on eyewitness remembering.
abstract: Some research has found a stronger influence of directly (face-to-face; co-witness; 'social') vs. indirectly (through written reports, 'non-social') encountered post-event misinformation on eyewitness memory reports, whereas other research finds no (big) difference. We argue and demonstrate that a crucial but so far neglected variable underlying this difference is memory for the misleading information itself. In a study with N=120 participants who encountered misinformation directly or indirectly, we found misinformation retention (as assessed in a separate test) to be positively associated with a broad range of misinformation effects. Influence type (direct vs. indirect), however, did not moderate the misinformation effect in terms of memory for original details, and misinformation endorsement was even weaker in the direct influence condition. In our view, these findings reflect differential conversion of retained misinformation into test performance. Other than this, influence type had essentially no effects on remembering; nor did an additional post-warning manipulation.
authors.affiliation: University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Electronic address: hartmut.blank@port.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blank
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ost
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Georgina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Salmon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005104:Expert Testimony; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014956:Writing; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: 2343; 3020; Co-witness; Eyewitness testimony; Post-event misinformation; Remembering; Social influence