Psychology, Department of

 

First Advisor

Robert F. Belli

Date of this Version

Fall 7-3-2018

Citation

Kiat, J.E. (2018). The Role of Visual and Verbal Processes in False Memory Susceptibility on the Misinformation Effect. Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research: Department of Psychology.

Comments

A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Major: Psychology, Under the Supervision of Professor Robert F. Belli. Lincoln, Nebraska: June, 2018

Copyright (c) 2018 John E. Kiat

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate links between susceptibility to misinformation on the misinformation effect paradigm and individual differences in visual and verbal source monitoring ability. Results from four studies are reported. The first three studies assess links between individual differences in perceptual misinformation endorsement levels and visualization (Word-As-Picture) as well as verbalization (Picture-As-Word) errors on the memory test of a source monitoring task in which a set of objects were initially presented either as pictures or words during study. In Study 1, this picture-word source monitoring task and a misinformation effect paradigm, with a True/False test format, was administered to a sample of 87 participants. In Study 2, the same picture-word source monitoring task and the misinformation effect paradigm, this time with a two-alternative forced-choice test format, was administered to a sample of 177 participants. In Study 3, electroencephalographic (EEG) data was recorded during the testing phases of a picture-word source monitoring task and a misinformation effect paradigm administered to a sample of 19 participants. Across all three studies, verbalization (Picture-As-Word) errors was more strongly linked with misinformation susceptibility than visualization errors (Word-As-Picture). Building on these results, Study 4 assessed the misinformation susceptibility related predictive value of individual differences in visual and verbal processing during the event and narrative study stages of the misinformation effect paradigm. In Study 4, EEG data was recorded during the during the event and narrative study phases of a misinformation effect paradigm administered to a sample of 30 participants. The primary findings from Study 4 indicate that during the event and narrative encoding stages in the misinformation effect, activity in neural regions associated with semantic and verbal processing is more strongly related to misinformation susceptibility relative to activity areas related to visual processing and encoding. Collectively, these results indicate that verbalization based processes may play a stronger role in misinformation susceptibility relative to visualization related processing. Drawing on this observation, an integrative framework highlighting the role of modality related features in a source monitoring perspective of the misinformation effect is proposed.

Advisor: Robert F. Belli

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