Why the warehouse fire myth lingered

Introduction

The classic warehouse fire experiment became one of the most influential demonstrations of how misinformation can survive correction. In the study, participants read a series of reports about a warehouse fire. Early reports suggested that volatile materials such as paint and gas cylinders had been stored in a cupboard near the fire’s origin. Later, that claim was explicitly withdrawn. Yet many participants continued to use the supposedly corrected information when explaining explosions, smoke, damage and emergency responses. The finding helped establish what researchers now call the continued influence effect: people can remember a correction and still rely on the original claim when reasoning about events. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

What made the experiment memorable was not simply that people believed something false. The corrected information had become part of a causal story. Once it helped explain the fire, removing it left unanswered questions. The study showed that misinformation often persists because it remains useful, not merely because it is remembered. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

What the fire scenario tested

The original work by Hollyn Johnson and Colleen Seifert presented participants with a fictional news-style sequence describing a warehouse fire and the subsequent investigation. One version of the story included reports that a storage cupboard contained volatile materials. Later messages stated that the cupboard had actually been empty and that the earlier information was incorrect. Researchers then asked participants questions requiring them to explain aspects of the event. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

The crucial finding was that many participants continued to refer to the volatile materials despite having encountered the correction. They used the retracted information when discussing why the fire became severe, why explosions occurred and why thick smoke was present. Importantly, this was not simply a memory failure. Most participants could correctly recall that a retraction had occurred. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014 [Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsSensitivity to misinformation retractions in the continued…Based on answers to the inference questions, Johnson and Seife…

The study therefore separated two ideas that are often treated as the same thing:

Participants frequently succeeded at the first task but failed at the second. The corrected claim continued to influence how they interpreted the rest of the story. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

Why volatile materials stayed explanatory

The volatile-materials detail occupied a powerful position in the narrative because it supplied a ready-made cause. Fires accompanied by explosions, toxic fumes and extensive damage naturally invite questions about what fuelled them. The mention of paint, chemicals or gas cylinders immediately provided an explanation. [ANECDOTAL]anecdotal.appcontinued influence effectANECDOTALContinued influence effect | ANECDOTALJohnson and Seifert (1994) showed why. When misinformation fills a causal role in a mental…

When the correction later stated that the cupboard was empty, it removed the explanation without replacing it. Participants still faced the same evidence within the story: a serious fire, emergency concern and unusual fire behaviour. The retracted information remained attractive because it continued to fit those observations. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

Researchers increasingly describe this process in terms of mental models. As people read a sequence of events, they build an internal explanation linking causes and outcomes. The volatile materials became part of that model. A correction could mark the information as false, but the broader explanatory structure often remained intact. Unless a new explanation filled the gap, the original cause continued to be retrieved when participants answered later questions. [scholarworks.boisestate.edu]scholarworks.boisestate.eduHow Stories in Memory Perpetuate the Continued Influence of…by A Hamby · 2020 · Cited by 65 — In a seminal study, Johnson and Seifert… [2sites.dartmouth.edu]sites.dartmouth.eduDisplacing misinformation about events:by B Nyhan · Cited by 219 — Misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting e…

This explains why the warehouse fire became such a useful illustration. The misinformation was not an isolated fact like a mistaken date or misspelled name. It served as a causal mechanism. Removing it disrupted the coherence of the story. [ANECDOTAL]anecdotal.appcontinued influence effectANECDOTALContinued influence effect | ANECDOTALJohnson and Seifert (1994) showed why. When misinformation fills a causal role in a mental…

Why the findings mattered beyond a laboratory story

The warehouse fire scenario helped researchers move beyond the idea that misinformation persists only because people are inattentive or forgetful. The study suggested a more complicated problem: corrections can fail even when they are noticed and remembered. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

Subsequent research repeatedly used variants of the warehouse-fire design to investigate why misinformation lingers and how corrections might be improved. Later studies found continued influence effects across different question formats, populations and experimental designs. Participants often continued using corrected information despite acknowledging that it was false. [openaccess.city.ac.uk]openaccess.city.ac.ukComparing the use of open and closed questions for Web…June 23, 2018 — by S Connor Desai · 2018 · Cited by 261 — Across all four studi…Published: June 23, 2018 [DNB]d-nb.infoThis occurred even though a…Read more…

Researchers also tested whether stronger warnings, clearer retractions or explanations about the source of misinformation could solve the problem. These interventions often reduced reliance on the false information but rarely eliminated it completely. [Ecker Memory & Cognition Lab]emc-lab.orgEcker Memory & Cognition LabExplicit warnings reduce but do not eliminate the continued…August 27, 2017 — by UKH ECKER · 2010 · Cited…Published: August 27, 2017 [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCExploring factors that mitigate the continued influencePMCby IP Kan · 2021 · Cited by 27 — The term “continued influence effect” (CIE) refers to the phenomenon that discredited and obsolete in…

The warehouse fire therefore became a foundational example because it captured a pattern that appears in many real-world settings:

In each case, a claim that supplies a compelling explanation may continue shaping judgement after correction. [sites.dartmouth.edu]sites.dartmouth.eduDisplacing misinformation about events:by B Nyhan · Cited by 219 — Misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting e…

What the study reveals about correction design

One of the most important lessons from the warehouse fire experiment is that effective corrections often need to do more than deny a falsehood. Simply saying “that information was wrong” may remove a fact while leaving the audience without an alternative explanation. [sites.dartmouth.edu]sites.dartmouth.eduDisplacing misinformation about events:by B Nyhan · Cited by 219 — Misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting e…

Research inspired by the fire study has consistently suggested that replacement explanations work better than bare retractions. If a correction can explain what really happened, people have a new causal story available when they later reason about the event. The correction becomes part of the mental model rather than merely an annotation attached to it. [sites.dartmouth.edu]sites.dartmouth.eduDisplacing misinformation about events:by B Nyhan · Cited by 219 — Misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting e…

The warehouse fire example also highlights why some myths feel unusually persistent. The more explanatory work a claim performs, the harder it can be to remove. A correction that attacks the factual accuracy of the claim may still leave its narrative function untouched. People may reject the statement while continuing to use its logic. [ResearchGate]researchgate.netResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe…Published: April 29, 2014

Recent replication work has continued to find evidence for the underlying effect, reinforcing the original insight that misinformation can influence reasoning after correction. Although researchers debate the strength of particular interventions, the central lesson of the warehouse fire study remains influential: correcting a myth is easier when people are given something equally coherent to think with afterwards. [sciencedirect.com]sciencedirect.comA replication study of Johnson and Seifert's (1994)…by V Laurent · 2023 · Cited by 5 — The term “Continued Influence Effect” (CIE) (Jo… [PubMed]pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govreplication study of Johnson and Seifert's (1994)…by V Laurent · 2023 · Cited by 5 — Researchers Johnson and Seifert (1994, Experiment…

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Endnotes

1. Source: researchgate.net
   Link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Colleen_Seifert/publication/232501255_Sources_of_the_Continued_Influence_Effect_When_Misinformation_in_Memory_Affects_Later_Inferences/links/5485d4070cf268d28f0045c0/Sources-of-the-Continued-Influence-Effect-When-Misin
   Source snippet

   ResearchGateWhen Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesApril 29, 2014 — The results also show a continued influence effect whe...

   Published: April 29, 2014

2. Source: anecdotal.app
   Title: continued influence effect
   Link: https://anecdotal.app/bias/continued-influence-effect/
   Source snippet

   ANECDOTALContinued influence effect | ANECDOTALJohnson and Seifert (1994) showed why. When misinformation fills a causal role in a mental...

3. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   Title: PMCExploring factors that mitigate the continued influence
   Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8627545/
   Source snippet

   PMCby IP Kan · 2021 · Cited by 27 — The term “continued influence effect” (CIE) refers to the phenomenon that discredited and obsolete in...

4. Source: scholarworks.boisestate.edu
   Link: https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=marketing_facpubs
   Source snippet

   How Stories in Memory Perpetuate the Continued Influence of...by A Hamby · 2020 · Cited by 65 — In a seminal study, Johnson and Seifert...

5. Source: sites.dartmouth.edu
   Link: https://sites.dartmouth.edu/nyhan/files/2021/03/nyhan-reifler-causal-corrections.pdf
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   Displacing misinformation about events:by B Nyhan · Cited by 219 — Misinformation can be very difficult to correct and may have lasting e...

6. Source: openaccess.city.ac.uk
   Link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/19831/10/ConnorDesai-Reimers2018_Article_ComparingTheUseOfOpenAndClosed.pdf
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   Comparing the use of open and closed questions for Web...June 23, 2018 — by S Connor Desai · 2018 · Cited by 261 — Across all four studi...

   Published: June 23, 2018

7. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   Title: PMCDoes explaining the origins of misinformation improve
   Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9487849/
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   PMCby SC Desai · 2022 · Cited by 23 — The present study examined whether explaining that misinformation originated from a lie or an accid...

8. Source: sciencedirect.com
   Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823002706
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   A replication study of Johnson and Seifert's (1994)...by V Laurent · 2023 · Cited by 5 — The term “Continued Influence Effect” (CIE) (Jo...

9. Source: researchgate.net
   Link: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saoirse-Connor-Desai/publication/325106381_Some_misinformation_is_more_easily_countered_An_experiment_on_the_continued_influence_effect/links/5af70b254585157136ce117d/Some-misinformation-is-more-easily-countered-An-experiment-on-the-continued-influence-effect.pdf
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   An experiment on the continued influence effectConversely, in the warehouse fire narrative implied misinformation was more resistant to c...

10. Source: researchgate.net
    Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232501255_Sources_of_the_Continued_Influence_Effect_When_Misinformation_in_Memory_Affects_Later_Inferences
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    When Misinformation in Memory Affects Later InferencesDec 8, 2014 — Johnson and Seifert (1994) conducted an experiment in which participa...

11. Source: youtube.com
    Title: The Continued Influence Effect
    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ_hcf01EFw
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    The Continued Influence of Misinformation — Ullrich Ecker (CHDH Seminar Series 2020)...

12. Source: journals.sagepub.com
    Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17470218211048986
    Source snippet

    Sage JournalsSensitivity to misinformation retractions in the continued...Based on answers to the inference questions, Johnson and Seife...

13. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
    Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38000364/
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    replication study of Johnson and Seifert's (1994)...by V Laurent · 2023 · Cited by 5 — Researchers Johnson and Seifert (1994, Experiment...

14. Source: d-nb.info
    Link: https://d-nb.info/116597374X/34
    Source snippet

    This occurred even though a...Read more...

15. Source: emc-lab.org
    Link: https://www.emc-lab.org/uploads/1/1/3/6/113627673/ecker.2010.mc.pdf
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    Ecker Memory & Cognition LabExplicit warnings reduce but do not eliminate the continued...August 27, 2017 — by UKH ECKER · 2010 · Cited...

    Published: August 27, 2017

16. Source: journals.sagepub.com
    Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17470218251336232
    Source snippet

    Sage JournalsDo the protective effects last? The...9 Apr 2025 — The continued influence effect (CIE) refers to continued reliance on mis...

Additional References

1. Source: everydayconcepts.io
   Link: https://everydayconcepts.io/continued-influence-effect
   Source snippet

   Continued Influence EffectAmerican psychologists Hollyn Johnson and Colleen Seifert at the University of Michigan named and formalized th...

2. Source: johnsonsbaby.com
   Link: https://www.johnsonsbaby.com/
   Source snippet

   Johnson's BabyThe #1 Choice of Hospitals & Parents, JOHNSON'S® products are designed for baby's delicate skin. 125+ years of caring for b...

3. Source: unicri.org
   Link: https://unicri.org/sites/default/files/2023-01/Handbook%20to%20combat%20CBRN%20disinformation.pdf

4. Source: jnj.com
   Link: https://www.jnj.com/

5. Source: bu.edu
   Link: https://www.bu.edu/ballab/pubs/swire-thompson2020.pdf
   Source snippet

   e extent to which demand characteristics influence misinformation experiments in general.Read more...

6. Source: carlo-hamalainen.net
   Link: https://carlo-hamalainen.net/stuff/seifert2002.pdf
   Source snippet

   n called the “continued influence effect” (...Read more...

7. Source: jnjmedtech.com
   Link: https://www.jnjmedtech.com/en-EMEA/Skontaktuj-PL
   Source snippet

   spozycji, aby udzielić Ci potrzebnych informacji...

8. Source: escholarship.org
   Title: But where’s the evidence?
   Link: https://escholarship.org/content/qt90q1k1r7/qt90q1k1r7_noSplash_89e39d5052c4fb3421a8456938be2e80.pdf?t=sgijj7
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   The effect of explanatory...The Continued Influence Effect: The Persistence of. Misinformation in Memory and Reasoning Following Correct...

9. Source: youtube.com
   Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_dHJVH5hPU
   Source snippet

   Why Misinformation Sticks in Your Brain Even After It's Debunked...

10. Source: youtube.com
    Title: What is Continued influence effect? [Definition and Example]
    Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaEDkrYnKuI
    Source snippet

    The [Debunking]({{ 'debunking/' | relative_url }}) Handbook: How to counter misinformation...