The New Theory of Disuse Predicts Retrieval Enhanced Suggestibility (RES)
Victoria Bartek · Seton Hall University eRepository (Seton Hall University) · 2017
Retrieval enhanced suggestibility (RES) refers to an effect where initial testing of an event leads to better learning of and higher production of misinformation regarding that event. This paper proposes the New Theory of Disuse (Bjork & Bjork, 1992) as a supplement to the retrieval fluency account for RES (Thomas et al., 2010). The amount of interference presented between the misinforming narrative and final test was manipulated in order to investigate how decays in retrieval strength (how easily a memory is recalled) affect misinformation reporting. Results suggested that the learning of interfering information may decrease RES, but that this effect may be contingent on how strongly the original event memory was stored (quantified as performance on initial test). This is in line with New Theory of Disuse’s predictions, which suggest that degree of retrieval strength decay with new learning may be determined by how strongly a memory trace is stored.