The information effect: constructive memory, testimony, and epistemic luck.

The incorporation of post-event testimonial information into an agent's memory representation of the event via constructive memory processes gives rise to the misinformation effect, in which the incorporation of inaccurate testimonial information results in the formation of a false memory belief. Wh...

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Published in:Synthese Vol. 190; no. 12; pp. 2429 - 2457
Main Author: Michaelian, Kourken
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Aug2013
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        10.1007/s11229-011-9992-7
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        atl: The information effect: constructive memory, testimony, and epistemic luck.
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        au: Michaelian, Kourken
        affil: Department of Philosophy, Bilkent University, Bilkent, Ankara 06800 Turkey
      su:
        Testimony (Theory of knowledge)
        Theory of knowledge
        Fortune
        Fortune-telling
        Memory
      sug:
        subj:
          Testimony (Theory of knowledge)
          Theory of knowledge
          Fortune
          Fortune-telling
          Memory
      keyword:
        Constructive memory
        Epistemic luck
        Eyewitness memory
        Misinformation effect
        Testimony
      ab: The incorporation of post-event testimonial information into an agent's memory representation of the event via constructive memory processes gives rise to the misinformation effect, in which the incorporation of inaccurate testimonial information results in the formation of a false memory belief. While psychological research has focussed primarily on the incorporation of inaccurate information, the incorporation of accurate information raises a particularly interesting epistemological question: do the resulting memory beliefs qualify as knowledge? It is intuitively plausible that they do not, for they appear to be only luckily true. I argue, however, that, despite its intuitive plausibility, this view is mistaken: once we adopt an adequate (modal) conception of epistemic luck and an adequate (adaptive) general approach to memory, it becomes clear that memory beliefs resulting from the incorporation of accurate testimonial information are not in general luckily true. I conclude by sketching some implications of this argument for the psychology of memory, suggesting that the misinformation effect would better be investigated in the context of a broader 'information effect'.
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    language: English
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