Presentation Mode of Post-event Information and Misinformation Effects

Abstract

A total of 105 participants were first exposed to a series of 16 slides depicting a short story. Later, two different types of post-event information (PEI) were introduced : one was videotaped statements by eyewitnesses. The other was written statements by eyewitnesses. For each presentation condition participants were divided into two groups according to the types of information given (misinformation or consistent). After the filler task, a two-alternative forced-choice recognition test was given. The test consisted of 16 pairs of slides, each pair contained one original and one new item. Of these 16 pairs of slides, 3 of them contained target items. The result of this experiment indicate that the resistance to misinformation was stronger in the case of written statements. The reason may be that the participants in the written statement condition could read the PEI at their own pace ; and therefore it was easier for participants to detect the difference between original information and misinformation. This implies that the Principle of Discrepancy Detection worked as well in this case.