Misinformation effect
The misinformation effect is the distortion of a memory by misleading information encountered after the event, so that people come to recall details that were suggested to them later rather than what they actually experienced.
- 1 min read
- 5 linked ideas
Why does the misinformation effect happen?
A memory is not sealed when it forms. Each time it is recalled it can be updated, and details learned afterwards from questions, conversations or news reports can blend with the original. People often lose track of where a detail came from, a slip known as source misattribution, so a suggested fact feels like something they saw. Leading questions are especially potent because they slip new information in as an assumption. The longer the gap since the event, the weaker the original trace and the more easily it is overwritten.
What does the misinformation effect look like in real life?
- In Loftus and Palmer’s 1974 experiment, people who heard that cars “smashed” into each other gave higher speed estimates than those who heard “hit.”
- A week later in the same study, the “smashed” group were more likely to recall broken glass that was never in the film.
- Two witnesses to a minor accident chat afterwards and later describe the same detail that only one of them noticed.
How do you counter the misinformation effect?
- Write down what you remember about an important event as soon as possible, before talking it over.
- When questioning others, use open prompts (“What happened next?”) rather than questions that assume details.
- Treat details you cannot trace to your own observation as uncertain, however familiar they now feel.
Frequently asked
- What is the misinformation effect in simple terms?
- It is when something you hear after an event changes how you remember the event itself. A suggestive question or a second-hand account can plant details that you later recall as your own experience.
- What was the Loftus and Palmer car crash study?
- Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer showed people films of car accidents and varied one verb in a question about speed. Stronger verbs produced higher speed estimates, and the “smashed” wording later led more people to report seeing broken glass that was not there.
- Why does the misinformation effect matter?
- It is central to understanding eyewitness testimony. Police interviews, media coverage and conversations between witnesses can all introduce details, so careful interviewing methods aim to record memories before they are contaminated.
- How is the misinformation effect different from the Mandela effect?
- The misinformation effect describes a mechanism: later information altering a memory. The Mandela effect describes a pattern: many people sharing the same false memory. Misleading information is one possible route to such shared errors.
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Cite this page
ReadGlobe. (2026). Misinformation effect. https://readglobe.com/bias/misinformation-effect/
"Misinformation effect." ReadGlobe, 24 Oct. 2026, readglobe.com/bias/misinformation-effect/.
Editorial synthesis © ReadGlobe 2026, drawing on Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, the Tversky–Kahneman research program, and the primary cognitive-science literature. · Last reviewed 2026-10-24.