Dissociation of processes in belief: Source recollection, statement familiarity, and the illusion of truth.

TLDR

The illusory truth effect is driven by source recollection and statement familiarity, with old true statements judged true by both cues, whereas old false statements are judged false when sources are recalled, leaving familiarity as the sole basis for truth judgments. The study investigates how repetition influences perceived truthfulness by examining the illusory truth effect across four experiments. The experiments paired statements with either credible or non‑credible sources to manipulate source credibility. Falsely repeated statements were judged truer than new ones unless sources were highly memorable, and source recollection and familiarity independently contributed to truth judgments, with recollection diminished by control impairment while familiarity remained stable.

Abstract

This article reports 4 experiments concerning the effect of repetition on rated truth (the illusory truth effect). Statements were paired with differentially credible sources (true vs. false). Old trues would be rated true on 2 bases, source recollection and statement familiarity. Old falses, however, would be rated false if sources were recollected, leaving the unintentional influence of familiarity as their only basis for being rated true. Even so, falses were rated truer than new statements unless sources were especially memorable. Estimates showed the contributions of the 2 influences to be independent; the intentional influence of recollection was reduced if control was impaired, but the unintentional influence of familiarity remained constant