How to Become Right When You are Wrong: The Order of (Mis)Information Affects Event Memory

Navigating what is true and what is not is increasingly challenging in today’s world of fake news and alternative facts. Misinformation can spread rapidly, often unintentionally, leading people to believe inaccurate information. Our research investigated how two competing causal information encountered at different times during an event description affect memory of that event. Our first experiment (N = 67) found a misleading post-event information effect (correct first; incorrect second) with written texts (rather than videos and questions). Our second experiment (N = 51) found a continued influence effect with a reversed order of accurate and misleading causes (incorrect first; correct second). Thus, both experiments demonstrated misinformation effects. Our third experiment (N = 54) showed that presenting incorrect and correct causes in direct relation reduced the influence of misinformation. Our research stresses the importance of understanding the interplay between order effects and memory updating, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of misleading information on memory.