Processing inaccurate information theoretical and applied perspectives from cognitive science and the educational sciences

478 Pages·2014·4.734 MB·English

by  Braasch, Jason L. G.;Rapp, David

Processing Inaccurate Information

Processing Inaccurate Information
Theoretical and Applied Perspectives from Cognitive Science
and the Educational Sciences
edited by David N. Rapp and Jason L. G. Braasch
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or me-
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Processing inaccurate information : theoretical and applied perspectives from cognitive science
and the educational sciences / edited by David N. Rapp and Jason L.G. Braasch.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-02758-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Errors, Scientifi c. 2. Common fallacies.
3. Cognitive science. I. Rapp, David N., 1972– editor of compilation. II. Braasch, Jason L. G.,
editor of compilation.
Q172.5.E77P76 2014
001 — dc23
2013050251

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Contributors ix
1 Accurate and Inaccurate Knowledge Acquisition 1
David N. Rapp and Jason L. G. Braasch
I Detecting and Dealing with Inaccuracies 11
2 Correcting Misinformation— A Challenge for Education and Cognitive Science 13
Ullrich K. H. Ecker, Briony Swire, and Stephan Lewandowsky
3 The Continued Influence Effect: The Persistence of Misinformation in Memory
and Reasoning Following Correction 39
Colleen M. Seifert
4 Failures to Detect Textual Problems during Reading 73
Douglas J. Hacker
5 Research on Semantic Illusions Tells Us That There Are Multiple Sources of
Misinformation 93
Brenda Hannon
6 Sensitivity to Inaccurate Argumentation in Health News Articles: Potential
Contributions of Readers’ Topic and Epistemic Beliefs 117
Jason L. G. Braasch, Ivar Brå ten, M. Anne Britt, Brent Steffens, and Helge I. Strø ms ø
7 Conversational Agents Can Help Humans Identify Flaws in the Science Reported
in Digital Media 139
Arthur C. Graesser, Keith K. Millis, Sidney K. D’ Mello, and Xiangen Hu
II Mechanisms of Inaccurate Knowledge Acquisition 159
8 Knowledge Neglect: Failures to Notice Contradictions with Stored Knowledge
Elizabeth J. Marsh and Sharda Umanath 161
vi Contents
9 Mechanisms of Problematic Knowledge Acquisition 181
David N. Rapp, Matthew E. Jacovina, and Jessica J. Andrews
10 Discounting Information: When False Information Is Preserved and When
It Is Not 203
Yaacov Schul and Ruth Mayo
11 The Ambivalent Effect of Focus on Updating Mental Representations 223
Herre van Oostendorp
12 Comprehension and Validation: Separable Stages of Information Processing?
A Case for Epistemic Monitoring in Language Comprehension 245
Maj-Britt Isberner and Tobias Richter
III Epistemological Groundings 277
13 An Epistemological Perspective on Misinformation 279
Andrea A. diSessa
14 Percept– Concept Coupling and Human Error 297
Patricia A. Alexander and Peter Baggetta
15 Cognitive Processing of Conscious Ignorance 329
Jos é Otero and Koto Ishiwa
IV Emerging Models and Frameworks 351
16 The Knowledge Revision Components (KReC) Framework: Processes and
Mechanisms 353
Panayiota Kendeou and Edward J. O’ Brien
17 The Content– Source Integration Model: A Taxonomic Description of How
Readers Comprehend Conflicting Scientific Information 379
Marc Stadtler and Rainer Bromme
18 Inaccuracy and Reading in Multiple Text and Internet/Hypertext
Environments 403
Peter Afflerbach, Byeong-Young Cho, and Jong-Yun Kim
19 Epistemic Cognition and Evaluating Information: Applying the AIR Model of
Epistemic Cognition 425
Clark A. Chinn, Ronald W. Rinehart, and Luke A. Buckland
Index 455
Acknowledgments
Our interest in producing a volume on the effects of inaccurate information was ini-
tially inspired by conversations about the current state of work on language compre-
hension, memory processes, and educational experiences. Across these areas, we often
reflected on how research and theory has considered the ways in which people might
develop accurate, underinformed, and/or flawed understandings, but with most inves-
tigations focused solely on the consequences of reliable and valid presentations of
materials. This struck us as surprising given that flawed news reports, biased sources,
and fabricated data and arguments are regular occurrences, drawing the ire of research-
ers, publishers, and the general public.
During one of our conversations concerning this lack of attention, we identi-
fied researchers who have begun considering these oft-ignored issues and who have
attempted to incorporate their findings and arguments into contemporary accounts of
learning and comprehension. Their work was core to two particular areas of research,
the educational sciences and the cognitive sciences, and exemplified by the diverse
approaches, both methodological and theoretical, that these groups adopt in their
investigations. Despite the innovations and important claims being derived from the
emerging work, we were disappointed to find that, in many cases, there was precious
little cross talk among the groups and, more broadly, across the interdisciplinary scien-
tific fields to which members of those groups were affiliated. This offered an exciting
opportunity to present the accumulating findings from those groups in a single volume
that would provide a survey of relevant work and that we hoped would encourage
more cross talk and more investigation on the influence of inaccurate information. The
volume you are now reading is the result of these considerations.
We wish to thank each of the authors for their informative chapters and for agree-
ing to the process, submitting manuscripts that went through multiple iterations of
evaluation and revision, with the goal of producing chapters relevant to multiple fields
of inquiry. Thanks also go to Northwestern University and the University of Oslo for
affording the time and resources for developing and producing the current volume.
We are grateful to many individuals for discussing ideas presented in the volume,
viii Acknowledgments
including but not limited to members of the Reading Comprehension Laboratory at
Northwestern University (Jessica Andrews, Dr. Scott Hinze, Dr. Matthew Jacovina, Ryan
Jenkins, and Kristine Kohlhepp) and to the members of the TextDIM group (Text Com-
prehension: Development, Instruction, and Multiple Texts) at the University of Oslo.
Special thanks go to Philip Laughlin and the folks at MIT Press for their guidance and
enthusiasm for the project. We also thank Claire Gaynor for her rousing creativity and
design suggestions. And finally, special thanks to Ricky Downtown and Mr. M.
Contributors
Peter Afflerbach Byeong-Young Cho
University of Maryland Iowa State University
Patricia A. Alexander Andrea A. diSessa
University of Maryland University of California at
Berkeley
Jessica J. Andrews
Sidney K. D’ Mello
Northwestern University
University of Notre Dame
Peter Baggetta
Ullrich K. H. Ecker
University of Maryland
University of Western Australia
Jason L. G. Braasch
Arthur C. Graesser
University of Memphis
University of Memphis
Ivar Brå ten
Douglas J. Hacker
University of Oslo
University of Utah
M. Anne Britt
Brenda Hannon
Northern Illinois
University Texas A & M University
Rainer Bromme Xiangen Hu
University of Muenster University of Memphis
Luke A. Buckland Maj-Britt Isberner
Rutgers University University of Kassel
Clark A. Chinn Koto Ishiwa
Rutgers University Universidad de Alcalá