Report #8: Replication of a study from “The Visual Mandela Effect as Evidence for Shared and Specific False Memories Across People” (Psychological Science | Prasad & Bainbridge 2022)

We ran a replication of Study 1 from this paper, which tested whether a series of popular logos and characters (e.g., Apple logo, Bluetooth symbol, Mr. Monopoly) showed a “Visual Mandela Effect”—a phenomenon where people hold “specific and consistent visual false memories for certain images in popular culture.” For example, many people on the internet remember Mr. Monopoly as having a monocle when, in fact, the character has never had a monocle. The original study found that 7 of the 40 images it tested showed evidence of a Visual Mandela Effect: C-3PO, Fruit of the Loom logo, Curious George, Mr. Monopoly, Pikachu, Volkswagen logo, and Waldo (from Where’s Waldo). These results fully replicated in our study. In the study, participants evaluated one popular logo or character image at a time. For each image, participants saw three different versions. One of these versions was the original, while the other two versions had subtle differences, such as a missing feature, an added feature, or a change in color. Participants were asked to select which of these three versions was the correct version. Participants then rated how confident they felt in their choice, how familiar they were with the image, and how many times they had seen the image before.If people chose one particular incorrect version of an image statistically significantly more often than they chose the correct version of an image, that was considered evidence of a possible Visual Mandela Effect for that image.The study received a transparency rating of 3.5 stars because its materials and data were publicly available, but it was not pre-registered and there were insufficient details about some of its analyses. The paper received a replicability rating of 5 stars because all of its primary findings replicated. The study received a clarity rating of 2.5 stars due to errors and misinterpretations in some of the original analyses.