Do Distress Responses to a Traumatic Film Predict Susceptibility to the Misinformation Effect?

Abstract

The misinformation effect is defined as an impairment in memory for past events due to exposure to misleading information (E. F. Loftus, 2005). Some people may be more susceptible to the misinformation effect than others, and this may also depend on their response to a distressing event. The purpose of the current study was to investigate several key factors that may contribute to misinformation susceptibility for distressing events, namely posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms such as avoidance, intrusions, and dissociation. Participants watched either a neutral or trauma film, rated their level of distress, and completed measures of trait and state dissociation. When participants returned a week later, misinformation was introduced via an eyewitness statement and free recall was assessed. Findings indicated that dissociation was related to higher distress ratings following the film but was not related to acceptance of misinformation. However, avoidance scores were related to increased recall of misinformation items, and reported experiences of intrusions were related to greater accuracy. These results are discussed in light of the paradoxical negative emotion hypothesis.

Keywords:

• dissociation
• intrusions
• avoidance
• misinformation
• false memories

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Australian Research Council (LP0989719). The authors would like to thank Emily Harkness for coding responses and the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable feedback on an earlier version of this article.