Tourist memory distortion

Kathryn A. Braun-LaTour*, Melissa J. Grinley, Elizabeth F. Loftus

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

94 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tourists' memories of prior vacation experiences are an important source of information as they, their family, and their friends make future travel plans. However, those memories may be distorted by other types of information to which the tourists are exposed after they visit, such as advertising and other tourists' memory stories. In the present article, we utilize the false memory paradigm from cognitive psychology to assess whether external information sources can distort how tourists remember their own past. We end with a discussion of the implications of our results for tourism research and propose some future areas for investigation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)360-367
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Travel Research
Volume44
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2006

Keywords

  • Advertising
  • Distortion
  • Experience
  • Memory
  • Word-of-mouth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Transportation
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management

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