Loftus And Palmer

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate whether memory is influenced by information which occurs after an event (post event information) including leading questions

Question 2

Experiment 1 procedure

Answer 2

Opportunity sample 45 students ( 5 equal groups ) shown film clips of traffic accidents from safety films 5-30 seconds each
After the ppts were asked a ‘critical’ questions of how fast the cars were going when they___ into each other
They changed the word in the gap for each group : smashed,collided,bumped,hit,contacted
DV= speed estimates

Question 3

Results experiment 1

Answer 3

Smashed mean estimate speed 40.8mph whereas contacted was 31.8mph

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

Evidence of the effect of post event information on recall
Does the leading question bias a response or alter their memory

Question 5

Experiment 2 procedure

Answer 5

150 ppts shown a one minute film which included a short scene of a car accident
IV= wording of critical question: ‘how fast were the cars going when they hit/smashed into each other’
Control group no question about speed
A week later ppt returned and asked critical question ‘did you see any broken glass’ which was part of a longer series of questions - there was no broken glass

Question 6

Results of experiment 2

Answer 6

Ppts in smashed condition more likely to report they saw glass : 16 compared to 7 in the hit condition

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

Post event information did not simply create a biased response
It created a new reconstructed memory (info from the event (watching the video) + info after the event ( hearing the leading question ) = new reconstructed memory