Immediately after, most participants correctly identified the untrue statements as myths. But several days later, researchers checked back with their subjects and found that older adults were significantly more likely to say: Yes, shark cartilage really does help arthritis! The brute force of repetition had familiarized the connection between shark cartilage and arthritis, and older participants, with worse explicit memory, failed to separate familiarity—“That statement feels right”—from fact—“The statement is correct.”
