Repetition increases people's belief that the repeated information is true. Previous research has investigated this increase with largely unknown trivia information (both factually true and false), and more recently, with a focus on factually false information (i.e., “fake news”). We investigate whether this increase in belief also holds for relevant and true information, concretely, information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In two experiments (total N = 398), we manipulated repetition for well-known and less-known information about the ongoing pandemic. Overall, repetition increased participants’ belief in coronavirus-related information. However, the increase was significantly larger for less-known compared to well-known statements. This implies an asymmetry for repeating true and false information: Because false information is more likely unknown compared to true information, repetition may benefit false information substantially more compared to true information. Nevertheless, mere repetition increases belief for actually relevant and factually true information, providing a basis for subsequent actions.

重复增加了人们相信重复信息是真实的。之前的研究已经通过大量未知的琐事信息（事实真假）调查了这种增长，最近，研究重点是事实虚假信息（即“假新闻”）。我们调查这种信念的增加是否也适用于相关和真实的信息，具体来说，是与 COVID-19 大流行相关的信息。在两个实验中（总N  = 398），我们操纵了有关正在进行的大流行的众所周知和鲜为人知的信息的重复。总体而言，重复增加了参与者对冠状病毒相关信息的信念。但是，与众所周知的陈述相比，鲜为人知的陈述的增幅要大得多。这意味着重复真实和虚假信息的不对称性：因为与真实信息相比，虚假信息更有可能是未知的，所以与真实信息相比，重复可能更多地使虚假信息受益。然而，仅仅重复会增加对实际相关和事实真实信息的信念，为后续行动提供基础。