Planting Misinformation in the Human Mind

Planting Misinformation in the Human Mind: A 30-Year Investigation of the Malleability of Memory

Loftus, Elizabeth F.
Learning & Memory 12, no. 4 (2005): 361-366
https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.94705

“Long ago, researchers showed that certain experimental conditions are associated with greater susceptibility to misinformation. So, for example, people are particularly prone to having their memories be affected by misinformation when it is introduced after the passage of time has allowed the original event memory to fade (Loftus et al. 1978). One reason this may be true is that with the passage of time, the event memory is weakened, and thus, there is less likelihood that a discrepancy is noticed while the misinformation is being processed. In the extreme, with super-long time intervals between an event and subsequent misinformation, the event memory might be so weak that it is as if it had not been presented at all.”

— Elizabeth F. Loftus