Anxious and distrustful – How do state anxiety and memory distrust influence the misinformation effect?

Abstract

The misinformation effect is influenced by many mnestic and non-mnestic factors. This article concerns the role of two of them: 1) state anxiety, defined as a situational experience of anxiety; 2) memory distrust, understood as a constant tendency to negatively evaluate one's memory. Both factors are relevant in the situation of being a witness and are believed to have a negative effect on the magnitude of the misinformation effect. In the present research, participants’ state anxiety had an immunizing effect against misinformation. As for memory distrust, no relationship was found between negative evaluation of memory and susceptibility to misinformation. The results confirm the beneficial effect of anxiety on resisting misinformation and demonstrate a greater need for further explorations concerning memory distrust.