The DOI matches its Crossref record; 43 of the 43 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sources of the continued influence effect: when misinformation in memory affects later inferences
Abstract
Several lines of research have found that information previously encoded into memory can influence inferences and judgments, even when more recent information discredits it. Previous theories have attributed this to difficulties in editing memory—failing to successfully trace out and alter inferences or explanations generated before a correction. However, in Experiments 1A and IB, Ss who had received an immediate correction made as many inferences based on misinformation as Ss who had received the correction later in the account (and presumably had made more inferences requiring editing.) In a 2nd experiment, the availability (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973) of the misinformation within the comprehension context was tested. The results showed that Ss continued to make inferences involving discredited information when it afforded causal structure, but not when only incidentally mentioned or primed during an intervening task. Experiments 3A and 3B found that providing a plausible causal alternative, rather than simply negating misinformation, mitigated the effect. The findings suggest that misinformation can still influence inferences one generates after a correction has occurred; however, providing an alternative that replaces the causal structure it affords can reduce the effects of misinformation.
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“More generally, there are many cases where two cognitive states with opposite content do not lead to any negative affect—a topic widely discussed both in philosophy and in psychology.”
From Conative Dissonance (2026) · cites this paper as Johnson and Seifert 1994
In the citing paper
“Classical laboratory research on memory for inferences [10, 6] demonstrates that the continued reliance on discredited information is very difficult to correct.”
From Misinformation lingers in memory: Failure of three pro-vaccination strategies (2017) · cites this paper as [6]
In the citing paper
“Even when people clearly remember and understand a subsequent correction when asked about it immediately (suggesting that they have encoded it and can retrieve and potentially comply with it), they can still be influenced by the effect of the retracted misinformation.”
From Misinformation lingers in memory: Failure of three pro-vaccination strategies (2017) · cites this paper as [6]
Citations
Cites
Grice, H. P. (1975) · Speech Acts · doi:10.1163/9789004368811_003 · Cited by 23,221
Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(73)90033-9 · Cited by 9,984
The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model.
Kintsch, W. (1988) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.95.2.163 · Cited by 4,363
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory
Bourne, L. E. (1977) · Cited by 4,328
Implicit memory: History and current status.
Schacter, D. L. (1987) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.13.3.501 · Cited by 2,983 · cited 3×
“Previous research (Schacter, 1987) has found that exposure to items makes them more likely to appear later on tests that do not require explicit recall of previous information.”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Representation of Meaning in Memory
Anderson, J. R., & Kintsch, W. (1975) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1421786 · Cited by 2,062
Semantic integration of verbal information into a visual memory
Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., & Burns, H. J. (1978) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.4.1.19 · Cited by 1,511
What's new? Acquiring New information as a process in comprehension
Haviland, S. E., & Clark, H. H. (1974) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(74)80003-4 · Cited by 1,151
McKoon, G., & Ratcliff, R. (1992) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037//0033-295x.99.3.440 · Cited by 1,110
Hastie, R., & Park, B. (1986) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.93.3.258 · Cited by 1,108
Cited by
When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions
Nyhan, B., & Reifler, J. (2010) · Political Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11109-010-9112-2 · Cited by 3,173
Misinformation and Its Correction: Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., Seifert, C. M., Schwarz, N., & Cook, J. (2012) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/1529100612451018 · Cited by 2,920
Self-citationBeyond misinformation: Understanding and coping with the “post-truth” era.
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U. K. H., & Cook, J. (2017) · Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2017.07.008 · Cited by 1,985
The psychological drivers of misinformation belief and its resistance to correction
Ecker, U. K. H., Lewandowsky, S., Cook, J., Schmid, P., Fazio, L. K., Brashier, N., Kendeou, P., Vraga, E. K., & Amazeen, M. A. (2022) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-021-00006-y · Cited by 1,372
Public health and online misinformation: challenges and recommendations
Swire-Thompson, B., & Lazer, D. (2020) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094127 · Cited by 1,170
Metadata
- Authors
- Johnson, H. M., & Seifert, C. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Seifert, Colleen M.
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
- Published
- 1994-11
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1420-1436
- ISSN
- 0278-7393 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1285
- OpenAlex
- W2012975501
- Cited by
- 560
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 1.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Deception detection and forensic psychology
- Keywords
- continued influence effect, misinformation, memory editing, causal structure, availability heuristic, priming
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- Johnson, H. M., & Seifert, C. M. (1994). Sources of the continued influence effect: when misinformation in memory affects later inferences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.20.6.1420
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
