Misinformation Effect
Recall of specific memories are less accurate because of post-event information that in part over-writes or fills-in the specific memories (intentionally or not).
EverydayConcepts.io
Origin
Beginning in 1974, Elizabeth Loftus — then an assistant professor at the University of Washington — demonstrated that post-event suggestions could corrupt eyewitness memory. Her car-crash experiments showed that replacing "hit" with "smashed" caused subjects to misremember seeing broken glass that was never present. These studies, conducted through the late 1970s, gave rise to what became known as the misinformation effect.
Updated February 22, 2026