ABSTRACT

Information and misinformation are proliferating on social media. A rapid rise in the use of these platforms makes it important to identify psychological mechanisms that underlie the production, propagation, and convergence of false memories in groups. Websites and social media platforms vary in the extent of restrictions placed on interactive communication (e.g., group chats, threaded or disabled comments, direct messaging), prompting questions about the impact of different interaction styles on false memory production. We tested this question in a laboratory analog of interaction styles and compared two well-known procedures of collaboration, free-for-all and turn-taking. To expose participants to information known to promote recall of both true and false information, we used the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) word lists (Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Participants recalled these words using free-for-all collaboration, turn-taking collaboration, or individually. Next, all participants individually recalled the studied items. Turn-taking produced more false memories in group recall than did free-for-all collaboration, replicating past findings. Novel findings showed that former group members exhibited social contagion following both interaction styles, where they produced more false information in later individual recall and exhibited collective false memories. We discuss the implications for the emergence and convergence of true and false memories among users online.

摘要

信息和错误信息在社交媒体上激增。这些平台使用的迅速增加使得识别群体中虚假记忆的产生、传播和融合的心理机制变得很重要。网站和社交媒体平台对互动交流的限制程度不同（例如，群聊、线程或禁用评论、直接消息传递），引发了有关不同互动方式对错误记忆产生的影响的问题。我们在一个模拟交互风格的实验室中测试了这个问题，并比较了两种众所周知的协作程序，即自由竞争和轮流。为了让参与者接触已知的信息以促进对真实和虚假信息的回忆，我们使用了 Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) 单词列表 (Roediger & 麦克德莫特，1995）。参与者通过免费合作、轮流合作或单独回忆这些词。接下来，所有参与者单独回忆所研究的项目。轮流在集体回忆中产生的错误记忆比自由合作产生的更多错误记忆，复制了过去的发现。新的发现表明，前团体成员在两种互动方式下都表现出社会传染性，他们在后来的个人回忆中产生了更多的错误信息，并表现出集体的错误记忆。我们讨论了在线用户之间真假记忆的出现和融合的影响。轮流在集体回忆中产生的错误记忆比自由合作产生的更多错误记忆，复制了过去的发现。新的发现表明，前团体成员在两种互动方式下都表现出社会传染性，他们在后来的个人回忆中产生了更多的错误信息，并表现出集体的错误记忆。我们讨论了在线用户之间真假记忆的出现和融合的影响。轮流在集体回忆中产生的错误记忆比自由合作产生的更多错误记忆，复制了过去的发现。新的发现表明，前团体成员在两种互动方式下都表现出社会传染性，他们在后来的个人回忆中产生了更多的错误信息，并表现出集体的错误记忆。我们讨论了在线用户之间真假记忆的出现和融合的影响。