Loftus and Palmer

Sample

45 students from Washington University divided into 5 groups of 9

Students couldn’t necessarily drive which may have
an impact on the overall results and accuracy.

Opportunity Sample - sample easiest for experimenter

Each student experienced only 1 of the
5 conditions

Aim

To test their hypothesis that the language used in eye-witness testimony can alter memory

They did this to show that leading questions and the vocabulary used can alter testimonies and statements from witnesses

Memory and recolition of the event can be altered by cues asked in the question.

Procedure

7 films of traffic accidents, ranging in duration from 5 to 30 seconds, were presented in a random order to each group.

After watching the films, the ppts were asked to recall what happened making a statement as if they were eye witnesses

They were asked specific questions like how fast were the cars going when they smashed / collided / bumped / hit / contacted?

It was found that the ppts who were given the harsher verbs (smashed, collided) predicted the cars to be going faster that those who had the gentler verbs (bumped, contacted).

IV and DV

The words being used to describe the accident

Speed reported by the ppts

Results

The estimated speed was affected by the verb that was used

The memory of the participants has been influenced by the way they were hinted to in the question

Those who were asked the “smashed” question predicted that the vehicles were travelling faster than those who were asked the “bumped” or “hit”

Conclusion

The use of verb in the question altered the ppts perceptions in their memory

The overall conclusion is that the way questions are asked after a crime can alter eye-witness testimonies

Response-Bias Factors - The questions may have led to response-bias answers/demand characteristics but that doesn’t necessarily mean there was a false memory created.

Memory representation is altered - the use of critical verbs may make ppts perceive the crash to have been more extreme than they originally thought.

They believed that is the memory representation being altered was the case then they would remember other chunks of false information. They carried out a second experiment to explore this

Experiment 2

Aim: investigating if leading questions simply create a response bias, or if they actually alter a person’s memory representation.

Sample: 150 students shown a 1 minute film

Procedure: 50 were asked a question about how fast the car was going when it “smashed”, 50 were asked how fast was the car going when it “hit” while 50 were not asked at all (control group).
One week later, they were asked “Yes or no, did you see any broken glass in the video?”