Dis(association) between belief and memory, continued influence effect and proactive interference

Interference to belief and memory is common. People persist in believing prior misinformation over later encountered correction (continued influence effect, CIE) and remembering previously learned materials over recently ones (proactive interference, PI). We studied potential dis(association) between belief and memory via an experiment combining these two paradigms. We found evidence for both interaction (a u-shaped relationship where extreme belief improved change recollection and recall) and disassociation (participants maintained their inferior belief in correction regardless of successful recall). Referring to the Knowledge Revision Components framework and a scaffolded encoding model built on retrieving effectively from memory, we assume the misinformation memory is active, encoded with correction, and then is scaffolded to memory to the degree of belief (association). It also has a belief tag that may remain (CIE) or be adjusted by the correction. As memories compete to be sampled in recall (PI), the belief tag is accessed upon recovery (disassociation).