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Protecting memory from misinformation: Using EEG to explore encoding-related neural responses during exposure to misinformation

Poster Session F - Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Sophia Grekin^1,2 (sgreki01@tufts.edu), Himanshu Chaudhary^1,2, Wuhib Solomon², David Distefano², Ayanna Thomas¹, Elizabeth Race²; ¹meta-Cognition and Applied Memory Lab, Tufts University, ²Integrative Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Tufts University

The accuracy of eyewitness memory can be unreliable. For example, exposure to misleading information after an event can impair memory for the event, a memory distortion known as the misinformation effect. Prior research has shown that warning individuals about the unreliability of post-event information (PEI) can significantly reduce misinformation susceptibility. However, the precise mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. The current study investigated whether this effect of warning is related to enhanced conflict detection and source encoding, particularly when post-event information differs from one’s memory for an original event (Karanian et al., 2024). To test this hypothesis, we first developed a novel misinformation paradigm in which participants witnessed an event and then were presented with PEI in the form of a narrative that was displayed word-by-word before taking a final memory test about the original event. Results from this behavioral study confirmed the presence of the misinformation effect when PEI is presented in a word-by-word format. Currently, we are running the same study while EEG data is being collected in order to measure neural responses (ERPs) to the individual words presented during the PEI and to investigate whether warnings influence these responses. Data collection is ongoing (current n = 15) to further power our analysis. We predict that warnings will influence ERPs related to both conflict detection and memory encoding (e.g., N400, P3b, Late Positive Component) and that the amplitude of these ERPs will be related to later memory accuracy and susceptibility to misinformation.

Topic Area: METHODS: Electrophysiology