Misinformation Effect in Aging: A New Light with Equivalence Testing

Objectives To better characterize the formation of false memories in older adults, we conducted a study using a French adaptation of the misinformation paradigm from Loftus, Levidow, and Duensing (1992). We aimed to show higher false memory production in older than in younger adults. Method One hundred and four younger adults (18–30 years) and 104 older adults (70–95 years) took part in the study. Participants were presented with a misinformation paradigm through the viewing of a short video followed by a questionnaire containing misinformation about the film. After a short delay (45 min), they performed a recognition task. Results Contrary to our hypothesis, the results analyzed with a Welch t test did not reveal a greater misinformation effect in older adults than in younger adults. Results were reanalyzed using the equivalence test which indicated that younger and older adults are statistically equivalent and not statistically different. Discussion The equivalence test helped to clarify the contradictory results of the literature. Furthermore, such results show the interest to reconsider misinformation effect in aging.