To be continued: misinformation’s bizarre adventure beyond memory failures – exploring non-memory-based mechanisms driving the continued influence effect (CIE)

The Continued Influence Effect (CIE) refers to the persistent impact of misinformation on beliefs or reasoning, even after its retraction. Traditional accounts attribute CIE to memory failures – either in updating mental models or retrieving corrections. In contrast, newer theories propose that CIE persists despite successful encoding and retrieval of retractions, due to motivational and reasoning-based processes. Across six experiments (N = 1,446), we tested these competing explanations. Participants frequently relied on misinformation even when recognizing it as misleading, and those who knowingly used it showed greater overall reliance. However, after debriefing, CIE declined most among participants who identified it as misleading. Furthermore, participants cited perceived relevance and explanatory value as reasons for misinformation use, highlighting goal-directed reasoning. These patterns were robust across various conditions, including prebunking interventions and source credibility manipulations.To integrate these findings, we propose the Dynamic Inference Optimization (DIO) model, framing CIE as a trade-off between conserving cognitive resources and minimizing uncertainty (i.e., model entropy). DIO suggests that CIE occurs because misinformation is weighted over retraction due to its explanatory power, forming a low-entropy model that requires minimal cognitive effort. However, maladaptive mismatches between cognition and environment may strategically increase model entropy, enabling belief revision by reweighting information probabilities, at the cost of increased cognitive effort. This model offers a unified, process-level account of CIE grounded in principles of adaptive reasoning and cognitive effort. Importantly, DIO fits into dynamic models of cognition, offering a more nuanced and ecologically valid explanation of how misinformation continues to influence reasoning.