Influence of individual differences in executive functions of WM on the continued influence effect of misinformation

ABSTRACT Misinformation often affects people’s cognition and judgment even when they are aware of a retraction; this is known as the continued influence effect of misinformation (CIE). The aim of the present study was to verify if there were differences in the continued influence effect with respect to the individual’s EF availability of WM (i.e. inhibition, shifting and updating). The Stroop task, number shifting task and the n-back task were adopted to investigate the three executive functions of inhibition, shifting and updating, respectively. The results showed that differences in inhibition, but not in shifting and updating, had a significant negative effect on the CIE. The continued effect of misinformation was lower for individuals with high function of inhibition. The current study showed that high-inhibition individuals were less affected by the misinformation. The study extends our understanding of the relationship between executive functions and the CIE.