Retrieval-enhanced suggestibility: A retrospective and a new investigation.

Journal of Memory and Language

Manley

Davis

et al. 2018

Self Cite

Practicing retrieval on previously studied materials can potentiate subsequent learning of new materials. In four experiments, we investigated the influence of retention interval and lag on this test-potentiated new learning (TPNL) effect. Participants studied four word lists and either practiced retrieval, restudied, or completed math problems following Lists 1-3. Memory performance on List 4 provided an estimate of new learning. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were tested on List 4 after either a 1 min or 25 min retention interval. In Experiments 3 and 4, participants took at 25 min break before studying List 4. A TPNL effect was observed in all experiments. To gain insight into the mechanism that may underlie TPNL, we analyzed the extent to which participants organized their recall from list to list. Relative to restudy and math, testing led to superior semantic organization across lists. Our results support a strategy change account of TPNL. AbstractPracticing retrieval on previously studied materials can potentiate subsequent learning of new materials. In four experiments, we investigated the influence of retention interval and lag on this test-potentiated new learning (TPNL) effect. Participants studied four word lists and either practiced retrieval, restudied, or completed math problems following Lists 1-3. Memory performance on List 4 provided an estimate of new learning. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were tested on List 4 after either a 1 min or 25 min retention interval. In Experiments 3 and 4, participants took at 25 min break before studying List 4. A TPNL effect was observed in all experiments. To gain insight into the mechanism that may underlie TPNL, we analyzed the extent to which participants organized their recall from list to list. Relative to restudy and math, testing led to superior semantic organization across lists. Our results support a strategy change account of TPNL.

Section: A Strategy Change Perspective Of Test-potentiated New Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing potentiates new learning across a retention interval and a lag: A strategy change perspective

Journal of Memory and Language

Manley

Davis

et al. 2018

Self Cite

“…For example, it has been demonstrated using various stimuli (Butler & Loftus, 2017;Chan, Wilford, & Hughes, 2012), in children (Brackmann, Otgaar, Sauerland, & Howe, 2016), younger and older adults (Chan et al, 2009), with repeated tests (Chan & LaPaglia, 2011), and in free and cued recall initial tests (Wilford, Chan, & Tuhn, 2014). A proposed explanation for retrieval-enhanced suggestibility is that the initial test inadvertently enhanced learning of the misinformation (Chan, Manley, & Lang, 2017;Thomas et al, 2010). Specifically, a wealth of research has shown that retrieval has both a backward and forward effect on learning.…”

Section: Retrieval-enhanced Suggestibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When participants are confronted with misinformation, details related to the initially tested material capture their attention and become better encoded. This increased encoding of the misinformation in turn eases its retrieval during the final test, leading to retrieval-enhanced suggestibility (for a review, see Chan et al, 2017).…”

Section: Retrieval-enhanced Suggestibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Immediate interviewing increases children's suggestibility in the short term, but not in the long term

Otgaar

Calado

et al. 2018

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose Children sometimes receive misinformation after being formally interviewed about their experiences in cases of suspected abuse. Following decades of research, many guidelines have been produced for interviewers so they can obtain reliable statements in children, like, for example, the NICHD protocol. One might expect that completing an early interview following research‐based guidelines might guard against the incorporation of misinformation encountered later. The goal of the current experiments was to examine whether following research‐based guidelines such as the NICHD protocol might protect child witnesses against follow‐up ‘misinformation’ or make them more vulnerable to misinformation. This increased vulnerability to misinformation has been referred to as retrieval‐enhanced suggestibility. Methods In two experiments, children viewed a video and half of them were interviewed using the NICHD protocol, while the other half were not interviewed. The children received misinformation and a final memory test either immediately after being interviewed (Experiment 1) or 1 week later (Experiment 2). Results Retrieval‐enhanced suggestibility was observed when misinformation was presented immediately but not when it was provided after 1 week. Conclusions The current experiments indicate that a well‐established interview protocol can, under some circumstances, amplify levels of suggestibility in children.

“…Exposure to misinformation can have detrimental effects on eyewitness memory accuracy (Loftus, 2005;Zaragoza, Belli, & Payment, 2006). Although one might expect that asking witnesses to provide an initial statement (i.e., engage in retrieval practice) might inoculate them against suggestive misinformation later (Pansky & Tenenboim, 2011), it sometimes has the opposite effect-a phenomenon known as retrievalenhancedsuggestibility (RES; Chan et al, 2017;Chan, Thomas, & Bulevich, 2009). In the RES paradigm, participants view a target event and then receive an initial memory test over that event (initially tested) or not (nontested).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, the tested participants are more likely to discount their own memory and instead report the information provided in the postevent narrative. In a review of the RES literature, Chan et al (2017) referred to this account as the misinformation acceptance hypothesis-a term borrowed from the classic misinformation effect literature (Belli, 1989), according to which the misinformation effect occurs because subjects accept and believe that the misinformation appeared in the witnessed event. In this particular application of the misinformation acceptance account, retrieval is hypothesized to increase suggestibility not because it enhances learning of the misinformation (as suggested by the TPL account), but because it increases the perceived accuracy of the misinformation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Retrieval Enhance Suggestibility Because It Increases Perceived Credibility of the Postevent Information?

Manley

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

2019

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Despite the robust memory-enhancing benefits of retrieval practice, an initial test can sometimes exacerbate eyewitness' susceptibility to subsequent misinformation-a phenomenon known as retrieval-enhanced suggestibility. One explanation for this finding is that after taking a memory test, participant witnesses are more likely to treat the subsequently presented misinformation narrative as being credible (the misinformation acceptance account; e.g., Chan, Manley, & Lang, 2017). Another explanation suggests that prior testing enhances participants' ability to learn the post-event misinformation (the test-potentiated learning account; Chan et al., 2017). In two experiments, we provided a direct test of these alternative hypotheses and showed that testing did not make participants believe the content of the narrative to be more accurate, and the perceived accuracy of the narrative was not associated with the likelihood of misinformation recall. These results are inconsistent with the misinformation acceptance account.