Details that are false but relevant to the main action of the story. May be presented in a question or in a statement.
Ex: "What does the conversation turn to after the waiter writes down Daniel and Julia's orders?", when in reality the waiter did not come, the conversation changed after they toasted to their date.

Schema-consistent misinformation

Details that are false and irrelevant to the main action of the story. Can be presented as part of a question or a statement. 
Ex: "What do Daniel and Julia sit on during their conversation when Julia drops her purse" when in reality, Julia never dropped her purse. 

Schema-irrelevant misinformation

People more willingly accept schema-consistent misinformation.

Differences in willingness to accept schema-consistent misinformation vs. schema-irrelevant misinformation

University of Delaware

A way to measure a participant's susceptibility to misinformation. 
- Phase 1: participant is exposed to a complex event.
- Phase 2: after exposure to the event, someone else comments on the event, usually presenting misinformation.
- Phase 3: participant is tested on their memory of the source of details (whether it came from the event itself or the second source).


Three-phase misinformation paradigm (Loftus et al., 1978)

Greenstein, M., Franklin, N. (2020). Anger increases susceptibility to misinformation. Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000489

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