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Table 1 Responses to true and fabricated stories, including proportion of participants who endorsed each response option and mean truthfulness rating for each story

From: Individual differences in susceptibility to false memories for COVID-19 fake news

Response

Fabricated stories

Chilli peppers

Coffee

COVID-19 vaccine

Contact-tracing app

I have a clear memory of seeing/hearing about this

30 (1.61%)

57 (3.09%)

46 (2.49%)

193 (10.36%)

I have a vague memory of this event occurring

85 (4.56%)

138 (7.49%)

125 (6.77%)

282 (15.14%)

I don’t have a memory of this, but it feels familiar

88 (4.73%)

114 (6.19%)

182 (9.85%)

172 (9.23%)

I remember this differently

17 (0.91%)

12 (0.65%)

29 (1.57%)

93 (4.99%)

I don't remember this

1642 (88.18%)

1522 (82.58%)

1465 (79.32%)

1123 (60.28%)

Average truthfulness rating [mean (SD)]

15.62 (21.54)

19.20 (24.50)

26.79 (28.09)

60.24 (34.97)

Total N

1862

1843

1847

1863

 

True stories

Vitamin D

Conor McGregor

Mary Lou McDonald

Sweden

I have a clear memory of seeing/hearing about this

1295 (34.83%)

943 (25.17%)

1701 (45.85%)

2836 (76.61%)

I have a vague memory of this event occurring

888 (23.88%)

908 (24.24%)

823 (22.18%)

540 (14.59%)

I don’t have a memory of this, but it feels familiar

369 (9.92%)

290 (7.83%)

252 (6.79%)

115 (3.11%)

I remember this differently

319 (8.58%)

172 (4.65%)

270 (7.28%)

103 (2.78%)

I don't remember this

847 (22.61%)

1390 (37.54%)

664 (17.90%)

108 (2.92%)

Average truthfulness rating [mean (SD)]

60.94 (34.31)

51.03 (38.68)

70.77 (32.60)

87.49 (20.55)

Total N

3718

3703

3710

3702