Readers’ Selective Recall of Source Features as a Function of Claim Discrepancy and Task Demands

ABSTRACT

In two experiments, undergraduate students read short texts containing two embedded sources that could either agree or disagree with each other. Participants’ memory for the sources’ identity (i.e., occupation) and features (i.e., the source’s access to knowledge and the source’s physical appearance) was examined as a function of the consistency of their assertions. In Experiment 1 (n = 64), sources were described with only one feature (knowledge or appearance), whereas in Experiment 2 (n = 62), each source was described with both features. Experiment 1 additionally tested the influence of two different tasks during reading (an evaluation of sources’ knowledgeability vs. an evaluation of sources’ age). Consistent with our predictions, knowledge evaluations (Experiment 1) and discrepant claims (Experiments 1 and 2) enhanced memory for sources and their features. Experiment 2 also showed that when both types of features were available, discrepant claims selectively benefited memory for a source’s knowledgeability over appearance.

View correction statement:

Correction to: Saux, G., Readers’ Selective Recall of Source Features as a Function of Claim Discrepancy and Task Demands

Notes

¹ We thank one of the anonymous reviewers for suggesting this research perspective.

Additional information

Funding

Supported in part by a grant to the first and fifth authors from the Argentine National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion (Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, grant number PICT 2015-2706) and through a grant to the last author from the French National Research Agency (Agence Nationale de la Recherche, grant number ANR 17-CE28 SELEN).