Conflicting but close: Readers? integration of information sources as a function of their disagreement

According to the Documents Model framework (Britt, Perfetti, Sandak, & Rouet, 1999) readers' detection of contradictions within texts increases their integration of source-content links (i.e., who says what). The present study examines whether conflict may also strengthen the relationship between the respective sources. In two experiments, participants read brief news reports containing two critical statements attributed to different sources. In half of the reports the statements were consistent with each other, whereas in the other half they were discrepant. Participants were tested for source memory and source integration in an immediate item recognition task (Experiment 1) and a cued recall Task (Experiments 1 and 2). In both experiments, discrepancies increased readers' memory for sources. We found that discrepant sources enhanced retrieval of the other source compared to consistent sources (using a delayed recall measure, Experiments 1 and 2). However, discrepant sources failed to prime the other source as evidenced in an online recognition measure (Experiment 1). We argue that discrepancies promoted the construction of links between sources, but that integration did not take place during reading.Fil: Saux, Gaston Ignacio. Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina "Santa María de los Buenos Aires". Facultad de Psicología y Psicopedagogía. Centro de Investigaciones en Psicología y Psicopedagogía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Britt, Anne. Northern Illinois University; Estados UnidosFil: Le Bigot, Ludovic. Université de Poitiers; FranciaFil: Vibert, Nicolas. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; FranciaFil: Burin, Debora Ines. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rouet, Jean-francois. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Franci