Can you trust what you hear? Concurrent misinformation affects recall memory and judgments of guilt.

What is it about?

Recorded audio is used in all walks of life, include in criminal trials and education. This audio is usually presented with either subtitles or transcriptions. But what happens when subtitles are inaccurate? Across 2 experiments, we show that by presenting inaccurate subtitles, you can change people's memory for a police interview. This corrupted memory results in people delivering guilty judgements at a higher rate than they otherwise would. This has serious consequences for how much care needs to be taken in the presentation of audio, and the generation and use of subtitles, suggesting that in some cases it may be better not to use subtitles at all.

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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash