Repeated factual statements are considered truer than one-time statements. This truth effect can have direct implications in erroneous beliefs in our media environment, where the repeated acquisition of the same piece of information is likely (news channels; website (re)visits; social networks). In this paper, we discuss the mechanisms underlying the truth effect through a review of the main results. The dominant current explanation of the effect of repetition on the judgment of truth is the familiarity/fluency hypothesis and the possible role of recollection has been underestimated in light of available results. We propose that a correspondence account, according to which both target recollection and familiarity mediate the effect, would better account for the results and suggest further studies to better understand this phenomenon.
La répétition d'une affirmation crée un effet de vérité qui peut avoir des implications directes sur la construction de croyances erronées. Dans cette étude sont discutés les mécanismes qui sous-tendent l'effet de vérité. L'explication consensuelle actuelle de cet effet de vérité repose sur l'hypothèse de la familiarité ou non de l'information pour le lecteur. Par ailleurs, le rôle du souvenir a souvent été sous-estimé.
