Misinformation effect

Biological Parallel

Herd animals update mental maps when groupmates signal danger in new locations—post-event information overwrites original memory because recent social signals often contain better data than individual recall. Memory reconsolidation allows updating: each retrieval is a rewriting opportunity where new information can blend with old. The misinformation effect reflects adaptive updating, not weakness—the brain bets that recent corroborated information predicts future reality better than aging individual memory.