Corrections are not always effective at reducing belief in misinformation. Negated corrections, which state a piece of information is not true, may only be effective at inhibiting information an observer has already encountered. We compared the effectiveness of negated corrections and replacements while manipulating initial exposure to a target concept. Subjects read one (Experiment 1) or six (Experiment 2) passages presenting a target concept (e.g., blue car) or not, followed by a negated correction (e.g., not blue), replacement (e.g., red), or no correction, then answered open-ended questions which were scored for mentions of the target concept. When subjects were exposed to the target concept, negated corrections reduced mentions of the misinformation relative to no correction; however, when not exposed to the concept, negated corrections increased mentions relative to no correction. These results demonstrate that negated corrections can increase belief in misinformation when observers have not been exposed to the misinformation.

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Hearing a task-irrelevant sound during object encoding can improve visual recognition memory when the sound is object-congruent (e.g., a dog and a bark). However, previous studies have only used binary old/new memory tests, which do not distinguish between recognition based on the recollection of details about the studied event or stimulus familiarity. In the present research, we hypothesized that hearing a task-irrelevant but semantically congruent natural sound at encoding would facilitate the formation of richer memory representations, resulting in increased recollection of details of the encoded event. Experiment 1 replicates previous studies showing that participants were more confident about their memory for items that were initially encoded with a congruent sound compared to an incongruent sound. Experiment 2 suggests that congruent object-sound pairings specifically facilitate recollection and not familiarity-based recognition memory, and Experiment 3 demonstrates that this effect was coupled with more accurate memory for audiovisual congruency of the item and sound from encoding rather than another aspect of the episode. These results suggest that even when congruent sounds are task-irrelevant, they promote formation of multisensory memories and subsequent recollection-based retention. Given the ubiquity of encounters with multisensory objects in our everyday lives, considering their impact on episodic memory is integral to building models of memory that apply to naturalistic settings.

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