Memory for Free: Gist-Based False Recall of an Advertisement in Young and Older Adults

Advertisers may mislead people into sharing personal information by wording their advertisements to encourage engagement. Advertisements may be effective because people rely on schematic information when retrieving information from memory, which can lead to gist-based false memory. The present study examined how young and older adults falsely remember viewing the word “free” in an advertisement. In two experiments, participants viewed an advertisement for 30 s (Experiment 1) or an unlimited time (Experiment 2). Participants either viewed an advertisement where “free” was stated thrice or was never stated but included synonyms. When “free” was stated, both age groups recalled “free” more often than it was stated. When “free” was not stated, both age groups falsely recalled the word “free.” Thus, people tend to overestimate the frequency of keywords and will falsely recall certain words, even when a specific thematic word is not in an advertisement, which could have implications for later decision-making.