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Reconstruction of Memories Elizabeth Loftus’ Research.

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Presentation on theme: "Reconstruction of Memories Elizabeth Loftus’ Research."— Presentation transcript:

1 Reconstruction of Memories Elizabeth Loftus’ Research

2 Post Event Information/ Misinformation Effect Information given to the eyewitness after the event occurs Loftus & Palmer Study(1974): –Does post-event information alter memory for the original event? –Do misleading questions alter a witness’ memory? –Procedure: Subjects shown video of a traffic accident involving a stop sign and then asked a series of questions about it –Half the subjects were asked misleading questions about a yield sign.

3 Cognitive Psychology: Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience, 2nd Ed. by Bruce Goldstein. Copyright © 2008 by Wadsworth Publishing, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved. Figure 7.14 (p. 262) Picture of traffic accident similar to one seen by the participants in the Loftus et al. (1978) “misleading postevent information “ experiment.

4 Loftus & Palmer (1974): Procedure “How fast were the vehicles going when they…” Group 1: “…smashed into each other?” Group 2: “…collided?” Group 3: “…bumped into each other?” Group 4: ”…hit each other?” Group 5: “…contacted?”

5 Loftus & Palmer (1974): Results

6 Cognitive Psychology: Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience, 2nd Ed. by Bruce Goldstein. Copyright © 2008 by Wadsworth Publishing, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved. Group A “How fast was the car going when it passed the barn” Loftus (1975) viewed film of car accident (There was no barn) filled out a questionnaire 1 Week later, “Did you see a barn?” Group A respond “Yes” (more than 20%) Group B respond “No” Group B “How fast was the car going when it passed the stop sign” Misleading post-event information can lead to false memories Effects of misleading information

7 Implanting New Memories Loftus & Pickrell- 3 true events & 1 fictitious “lost in the mall” event Procedure: –Booklet- description of the event and they provide more details (3 true, 1 false) –68% remembered the true events & 29% remembered the false event –Differences: more descriptive words used to describe the real events

8 Can memories be implanted in children? Stephen Ceci’s Experiment (1994) Subjects 96 children, ages 3-6 Each child was read a list of events, one false about getting their hand caught in a mouse trap They were told some events not real “Think really hard” 91% correctly identified real events 34% remembered the false event Age was a factor. Younger children 3-4 more suggestible

9 The Kelly Michaels Case In 1988, a school teacher named Kelly Michaels was convicted of 115 counts of sexual abuse against twenty 3 to 5 year- old children She was sentenced to 47 years in prison.


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