Fifty students participated in a study in which they were asked 120 basic science questions. They also ranked their level of confidence in their answers.

Their answers were often wrong, so they were given the right answers. Then half of the participants took the same test again immediately. The other half waited a week to take the test a second time.

The researchers concluded that the difference in results between the two test-taking groups shows that while were are good at correcting our mistakes in the short term – and even better at correcting information we were previously strongly convinced of – we revert back to deeply held misconceptions as time passes.