The authors investigated long-term memory for true written information about osteoarthritis
that disconfirms the reader's erroneous prior beliefs. Independent variables included informa
tion type (text affirms the reader's correct belief or disconfirms the reader's erroneous belief),
signaling (disconfirming information either signaled or not signaled in the text), and belief
repetition (target beliefs either assessed or not assessed immediately after reading the passages).
The relation between the reader's attitudinal fiexibility and long-term memory was also exam
ined. Participants were 85 adults (65-80 years old) who self-reported having osteoarthritis for
at least 2 years. The authors found (a) disconfirming information was less accurately recognized
and recalled than affirming information, (b) repetition ofbeliefs enhanced accurate recognition
of disconfirming information and interacted with signaling to increase revision of misconcep
tions, and (c) attitudinal flexibility was significantly (p < .05) correlated with both accurate
recognition of disconfirming information (r = .32) and revision of misconceptions (r = .26).
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