Code

Code for: Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Nahon, Lea Sara
Teige-Mocigemba, Sarah
Reber, Rolf
Greifeneder, Rainer

Abstract / Description

Code for: Nahon, L. S., Teige-Mocigemba, S., Reber, R., & Greifeneder, R. (2021). Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency. Cognition, 215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104819
Information is more likely believed to be true when it feels easy rather than difficult to process. An ecological learning explanation for this fluency-truth effect implicitly or explicitly presumes that truth and fluency are positively associated. Specifically, true information may be easier to process than false information and individuals may reverse this link in their truth judgments. The current research investigates the important but so far untested precondition of the learning explanation for the fluency-truth effect. In particular, five experiments (total N = 712) test whether participants experience information known to be true as easier to process than information known to be false. Participants in Experiment 1a judged true statements easier to read than false statements. Experiment 1b was a preregistered direct replication with a large sample and again found increased legibility for true statements—importantly, however, this was not the case for statements for which the truth status was unknown. Experiment 1b thereby shows that it is not the actual truth or falsehood of information but the believed truth or falsehood that is associated with processing fluency. In Experiment 2, true calculations were rated as easier to read than false calculations. Participants in Experiment 3 judged it easier to listen to calculations generally known to be true than to calculations generally known to be false. Experiment 4 shows an effect of truth on processing fluency independent of statement familiarity. Discussion centers on the current explanation for the fluency-truth effect and the validity of processing fluency as a cue in truth judgments.

Keyword(s)

Processing fluency Truth effect

Persistent Identifier

Date of first publication

2021-06-09

Publisher

PsychArchives

Is referenced by

Citation

Nahon, L. S., Teige-Mocigemba, S., Reber, R., & Greifeneder, R. (2021). Code for: Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency. PsychArchives. https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.4895
  • 2
    2021-06-09
    Code for Experiment 1b has been added. Code for internal meta-analysis has been removed.
  • 1
    2020-12-15
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Nahon, Lea Sara
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Teige-Mocigemba, Sarah
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Reber, Rolf
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Greifeneder, Rainer
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2021-06-09T14:07:49Z
  • Made available on
    2020-12-15T08:58:40Z
  • Made available on
    2021-06-09T14:07:49Z
  • Date of first publication
    2021-06-09
  • Abstract / Description
    Code for: Nahon, L. S., Teige-Mocigemba, S., Reber, R., & Greifeneder, R. (2021). Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency. Cognition, 215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104819
    en
  • Abstract / Description
    Information is more likely believed to be true when it feels easy rather than difficult to process. An ecological learning explanation for this fluency-truth effect implicitly or explicitly presumes that truth and fluency are positively associated. Specifically, true information may be easier to process than false information and individuals may reverse this link in their truth judgments. The current research investigates the important but so far untested precondition of the learning explanation for the fluency-truth effect. In particular, five experiments (total N = 712) test whether participants experience information known to be true as easier to process than information known to be false. Participants in Experiment 1a judged true statements easier to read than false statements. Experiment 1b was a preregistered direct replication with a large sample and again found increased legibility for true statements—importantly, however, this was not the case for statements for which the truth status was unknown. Experiment 1b thereby shows that it is not the actual truth or falsehood of information but the believed truth or falsehood that is associated with processing fluency. In Experiment 2, true calculations were rated as easier to read than false calculations. Participants in Experiment 3 judged it easier to listen to calculations generally known to be true than to calculations generally known to be false. Experiment 4 shows an effect of truth on processing fluency independent of statement familiarity. Discussion centers on the current explanation for the fluency-truth effect and the validity of processing fluency as a cue in truth judgments.
    en
  • Publication status
    unknown
    en
  • Review status
    unknown
    en
  • Citation
    Nahon, L. S., Teige-Mocigemba, S., Reber, R., & Greifeneder, R. (2021). Code for: Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency. PsychArchives. https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.4895
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/3979.2
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4895
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Publisher
    PsychArchives
    en
  • Is referenced by
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104819
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4894
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104819
  • Keyword(s)
    Processing fluency
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    Truth effect
    en
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Code for: Truth feels easy: Knowing information is true enhances experienced processing fluency
    en
  • DRO type
    code
    en