Even when people clearly remember and understand a subsequent correction when asked about it immediately (suggesting that they have encoded it and can retrieve and potentially comply with it), they can still be influenced by the effect of the retracted misinformation. To understand what causes such persistent reliance on patently incorrect information, it is useful to consider some relevant memory processes in more detail.Ĭlassical laboratory research on memory for inferences demonstrates that the continued reliance on discredited information is very difficult to correct. Despite an abundance of scientific evidence that shows no causal effect between any vaccine and autism, sizable segments of the public still champion Wakefield’s view.
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Furthermore, even when attempts to correct invalid information do not “backfire” by entrenching the original misinformation, they can frequently fail because people cannot successfully update their memories and still fall back on information they know is not correct in order to make inferences and explain events.Ī vivid example of persistent reliance on mistaken beliefs despite extensive corrections involves the alleged risks of childhood vaccines, especially the purported link between certain vaccines and autism, fear of which escalated following the widely discredited Wakefield et al.’s study. Second, public information campaigns designed to dispel erroneous vaccination beliefs often overlook these factors and have limited or even unintended opposite effects. First, vaccine hesitancy is rooted in a set of cognitive mechanisms that conspire to render misinformation particularly “sticky” and pro-vaccination beliefs counter-intuitive, involving a multitude of emotional, social, cultural, and political factors. Addressing vaccine hesitancy, defined as a “delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines despite availability of vaccination services” (, p575), is not a simple task for the following reasons. However, many people appear hesitant about vaccines, doubting their benefits, worrying over their safety or questioning the need for them. Vaccines are the safest and most effective tools for preventing infectious diseases and their success in achieving relevant public health outcomes, such as the reduction or eradication of many life-threatening conditions, is well-established.
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