Chapter 4. Thinking About People and Events

Introduction

Cognitive Tool Kit
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Misinformation Effect

How do our ways of understanding the world affect our memories? Elizabeth Loftus has researched this question and this experiment is a replication of one of her experiments.

Experiment Setup

Instructions

Instructions

You will need to press the space bar to begin the experiment. You will then be shown a film. When it ends, you will be asked a series of questions about it. Please answer as accurately as you can.

Experiment

Begin Experiment

Results

Results

Debriefing

Debriefing

It seems evident that our memories are biased by our current way of understanding the world. Sometimes these biases can even lead us to remember things that did not actually take place. This was best demonstrated by Elizabeth Loftus’s research on the misinformation effect, which is the process by which cues that are given after an event can plant false information into memory (Loftus, Miller, & Burns, 1978). Her research demonstrated that the accuracy of what is remembered from a particular situation relies to some extent upon the style and content of the questions asked of witnesses. The results of this study are consistent with the view of Loftus that memory is constructive and thus prone to errors in recall.

False memories in eyewitnesses are a problem for law enforcement; a better understanding of what factors influence the fallibility of memory would help police be more aware of how their actions influence eyewitness reports. In particular, Loftus and her colleagues demonstrated that the phrasing of questions to eyewitnesses influences the information that they report (Loftus, 2013). These results suggest that lawyers and law enforcement officials must take great care with crime witnesses to ensure that their memories are not corrupted by leading questions. Loftus’s work has been so influential that defense attorneys have often called upon her as an expert witness to testify to the fallibility of eyewitness testimony.

References:

Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., & Burns, H. J. (1978). Semantic integration of verbal information into a visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4 (1), 19–31.

Loftus, E. F. (2013). Eyewitness testimony in the Lockerbie bombing case. Memory, 21 (5), 584–590.

Quiz

Quiz

Question 4.1

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Correct.
Incorrect.
The independent variable is the value that is changed by the experimenter. The independent variable in this experiment is the choice of word in the target sentence in the post-event questionnaire (contacted, hit, bumped, collided, smashed).

Question 4.2

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Correct.
Incorrect.
The dependent variable is the value the experimenter collects to indicate how you performed in the experiment. In this case, the dependent variable is the participants’ estimation of speed of the two cars involved in the crash.

Question 4.3

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1
Correct.
Incorrect.
Elizabeth Loftus is responsible for the discovery of the misinformation effect. This is the memory phenomenon that occurs when post-event false information is imparted to a witness and influences that individual’s recollection of the event.

Question 4.4

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1
Correct.
Incorrect.
Elizabeth Loftus has demonstrated that memory can be altered by erroneous information taken in after an event occurs. This memory phenomenon is known as the Misinformation Effect.

Question 4.5

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Correct.
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Because her research calls into question the validity of eyewitness testimony, Elizabeth Loftus is frequently employed as an expert witness for the defense.