Abstract: Among cognitive factors that can influence the endorsement of pseudoscientific beliefs, our study focuses on prone ness to false memory generation. In this preregistered study, we presented 170 fluent English speakers residing in the USA with a misinformation task aimed at generating false memories. In this task, they first completed an event encoding stage, in which two events were narrated through sequentially presented pictures. One day later, they read a series of sentences relating the same events but which included several inaccurate descriptions aimed at producing a misinformation effect. Finally, we measured the influence of the misinformation manipulation over false memory generation. After completing the misinformation task, participants responded to a questionnaire measuring pseudo scientific beliefs. Our results showed a positive correlation between pseudoscience endorsement and false memory rates, which indicates that the latter might be a key factor influencing susceptibility to pseudoscience. To our knowl edge, this is the first study showing a link between the tendency to believe in pseudoscience and variability regard ing proneness to develop false memories. Practical implications for the design of new interventions to effectively reduce pseudoscientific beliefs and their negative impact on our society are discussed
Fuente: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 2024, 9, 39
Editorial: Cham Switzerland: springer International Publishing
Año de publicación: 2024
Nº de páginas: 10
Tipo de publicación: Artículo de Revista
DOI: 10.1186/s41235-024-00568-4
ISSN: 2365-7464
Proyecto español: PID2019-106102GB-I00