Faster initial retrieval of misinformation corrections predicts better long-term memory: An ERP study

The ability to effectively encode corrections to misinformation is vital for making well-informed decisions. However, false information often influences people's beliefs and judgments even after it is corrected. Here, we employed the electroencephalogram (EEG) to examine neurocognitive processes when participants encoded events, their causes, and corrections/affirmations to said causes. Participants then judged the veracity of the causes immediately (day 1) and one day after (day 2). Behaviorally, faster correct judgements on day 1 predicted more accurate day 2 delayed veracity judgements, suggesting that measuring response times could identify weakly encoded corrections. Re-exposure to misinformation on day 2 did not modulate subsequent memory for corrections. Although we did not observe any subsequent memory effects, we found reduced P300 amplitudes for corrections than affirmations. When only considering subsequent accurate veracity judgements, we observed a greater frontal slow wave amplitude when encoding corrections than affirmations. These findings provide preliminary neural evidence that processing corrections may be more difficult than affirmations.