FAKE NEWS LEADS TO FAKE MEMORIES?

“Our memories directly impact our behaviour, and so the next question is whether this kind of false memory could really change how someone intends to vote”, says Dr Gillian Murphy, lecturer in the School of Applied Psychology, UCC. Voters may form false memories after seeing fabricated news stories, especially if those stories align with their political beliefs, according to a new study led by Dr Gillian Murphy.

The study is novel because it examines misinformation and false memories in relation to a real-world referendum, Murphy explains. She and her colleagues, including APS Past President Elizabeth Loftus of the University of California, Irvine, recruited 3,140 eligible voters online and asked them whether and how they planned to vote in the referendum. Next, the experimenters presented each participant with six news reports, two of which were made-up stories that depicted campaigners on either side of the issue engaging in illegal or inflammatory behavior. After reading each story, participants were asked if they had heard about the event depicted in the story previously; if so, they reported whether they had specific memories about it.

The researchers then informed the eligible voters that some of the stories they read had been fabricated, and invited the participants to identify any of the reports they believed to be fake. Finally, the participants completed a cognitive test[1].

Nearly half of the respondents reported a memory for at least one of the made-up events; many of them recalled rich details about a fabricated news story. The individuals in favor of legalizing abortion were more likely to remember a falsehood about the referendum opponents; those against legalization were more likely to remember a falsehood about the proponents. Many participants failed to reconsider their memory even after learning that some of the information could be fictitious. And several participants recounted details that the false news reports did not include. Participants who scored lower on the cognitive test were no more prone to forming false memories than were higher scorers, but low scorers were more likely to remember false stories that aligned with their opinions. This finding suggests that people with higher cognitive ability may be more likely to question their personal biases and their news sources, the researchers say.

Other collaborators on the project include Rebecca Hofstein Grady and Linda J. Levine at UC Irvine and Ciara Greene of University College Dublin. The researchers say they plan to expand on this study by investigating the influence of false memories related to the Brexit referendum and the “#MeToo movement.”

In the article for Psychology Science the researchers stated that “People will act on their fake memories, and it is often hard to convince them that fake news is fake,” Loftus says. “With the growing ability to make news incredibly convincing, how are we going to help people avoid being misled? It’s a problem that psychological scientists may be uniquely qualified to work on.”

The research paper conducted by Dr. Gillian Murphy and colleagues false memories around the 2018 abortion referendum got a lot of press attention – from BBC to RTE, Forbes, Rolling Stone and FOX News.

Meral Musli Tajroska

Source: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/fake-news-can-lead-to-false-memories.html

[1] Cognitive tests are assessments of the cognitive capabilities of humans and other animals. Tests administered to humans include various forms of IQ tests; those administered to animals include the mirror test (a test of visual self-awareness) and the T maze test (which tests learning ability). Such study is important to research concerning the philosophy of mind and psychology, as well as determination of human and animal intelligence.