Loftus and Palmer

Loftus and Palmer

1. Experiment 1

   • 45 students (5 groups of 9)
     • Independent measures design
   • Lab experiment
   • Procedure
     • 1. Watched 7 car crashes
     • 2. Wrote an account of what they saw
     • 3. Filled in a questionnaire
       • CQ: About how fast were the cars going when they ... into each other?
   • Results
     • Smashed - 40.8
       • Collided
         • Bumped
           • Hit
             • Contacted - 31.8
   • Conclusions
     • Response bias
     • Memory distortion

2. Experiment 2

   • 150 students (3 groups of 50)
     • Independent measures design
   • Lab experiment
   • Procedure
     • 1. Watch 1 clip of a crash
     • 2. Asked to write an account
     • 3. Asked to fill out a questionnaire
       • Part 2
         • Pts came back a week later
           • Answered a further 10 questions
             • CQ: Did you see any broken glass?
       • CQ: About how fast were the cars going when they ... into each other?
   • Results
     • Did you see any broken glass?
       • Yes
         • "Hit" - 7
         • "Smashed" - 16
         • Control group - 6
   • Conclusions
     • Over time info is merged so that we can't tell which info is from the event and which was present afterwards.
       • Therefore, it is possible to distort a person's memory of an event through the use of leading questions.