Continued memory for misinformation, continued trust in the sources that spread it: The effects of language and self-correction

Even after corrections, misinformation can stick; It shapes what audience remembers, but does it also affect trust in the source? Or can news-sources spread misinformation without incurring reputational harm? In a preregistered study, we test how self-corrections and linguistic presentation modulate the persistence of (mis)information and trust. Participants heard news reports that were either self-corrected or uncorrected. Memory for the critical claim and willingness to trust the source were assessed. Across two experiments, self-correction reliably decreased reliance on the original claim yet left perceived trustworthiness unchanged. Explicit statements, relative to implicit or hedged ones, increased memory for both corrected and uncorrected information but did not alter trust. Conversely, negative wording reduced trust while leaving memory unaffected. These findings suggest that when news sources acknowledge errors, they do not necessarily incur reputational costs, and that specific linguistic cues, such as explicitness, can amplify the persistence of misinformation without diminishing perceived trustworthiness.