Exposure to even subtle forms of misleading information can significantly alter memory for past events. Memory distortion due to misinformation has been linked to faulty reconstructive processes during memory retrieval and the reactivation of brain regions involved in the initial encoding of misleading details (cortical reinstatement). The current study investigated whether warning participants about the threat of misinformation can modulate cortical reinstatement during memory retrieval and reduce misinformation errors. Participants watched a silent video depicting a crime (original event) and were given an initial test of memory for the crime details. Then, participants listened to an auditory narrative describing the crime in which some original details were altered (misinformation). Importantly, participants who received a warning about the reliability of the auditory narrative either before or after exposure to misinformation demonstrated less susceptibility to misinformation on a final test of memory compared to unwarned participants. Warned and unwarned participants also demonstrated striking differences in neural activity during the final memory test. Compared to participants who did not receive a warning, participants who received a warning (regardless of its timing) demonstrated increased activity in visual regions associated with the original source of information as well as decreased activity in auditory regions associated with the misleading source of information. Stronger visual reactivation was associated with reduced susceptibility to misinformation, whereas stronger auditory reactivation was associated with increased susceptibility to misinformation. Together, these results suggest that a simple warning can modulate reconstructive processes during memory retrieval and reduce memory errors due to misinformation.

暴露于即使是微妙形式的误导性信息，也可能大大改变对过去事件的记忆。由错误信息引起的记忆失真已与记忆检索和误导性细节的初始编码中涉及的大脑区域的重新激活（皮层恢复）期间的错误重建过程有关。当前的研究调查了警告参与者有关错误信息威胁的信息是否可以在记忆检索期间调节皮质恢复，并减少错误信息错误。与会人员观看了一段描述犯罪（原始事件）的无声视频，并对犯罪细节进行了初步记忆测试。然后，参与者听取了一个听觉叙述，描述了一些原始细节被改变的犯罪（错误信息）。重要的，在暴露于错误信息之前或之后收到关于听觉叙述可靠性的警告的参与者，与未经警告的参与者相比，在最终的记忆力测试中对错误信息的敏感性更低。警告和未经警告的参与者在最终的记忆力测试中还表现出明显的神经活动差异。与未收到警告的参与者相比，收到警告的参与者（无论其时机如何）证明与原始信息源相关的视觉区域活动增加，而与误导性信息源相关的听觉区域活动减少。较强的视觉激活能力与对错误信息的敏感性降低有关，而较强的听觉激活与错误信息易感性增加相关。总之，这些结果表明，简单的警告可以在内存检索过程中调节重建过程，并减少由于错误信息引起的内存错误。