Newspaper reports do they influence remembering of the main session material?

Abstract: The present thesis was aimed at investigating whether pre-exposure to biased newspaper reports influences remembering of the main session material. In general, the results show that remembering of the main session material varies as a function of the pre-exposure to the biased newspaper reports. It seems that pre-exposure to newspaper reports facilitates the accessibility of the main session items. However, recognition of the main session material in general seems to decrease when the participants are pre-exposed to newspaper reports written in order to discredit the defendant, whereas pre-exposure to newspaper reports written in favour of the defendant seem to facilitate recognition of the main session material. It Was suggested that the various schema activated on basis of the biased newspaper reports produced the effects obtained. Further, the ability to distinguish the various sources of information decreased when additional information (i.e., interference) was introduced. Some of the results obtained inquire previous views on expertise and prior knowledge and are discussed further. Moreover, the limits to generalizability are also discussed.