Loftus and Palmer (1974) Car Crash Experiment
In a foundational 1974 study, Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer explored how leading questions could influence memory. They presented films of car accidents to 45 college students and asked them to estimate the speed of the vehicles. The critical manipulation was the verb used in the question, 'About how fast were the cars going when they ___ each other?' The verb was varied with words like 'smashed,' 'collided,' 'bumped,' 'hit,' or 'contacted.' The results showed a clear correlation between the intensity of the verb and the speed estimate: 'smashed' yielded an average estimate of about 41 mph, 'collided' 39 mph, 'bumped' 37 mph, 'hit' 34 mph, and 'contacted' 32 mph. In a follow-up a week later, participants in the 'smashed' group were also more than twice as likely to falsely recall seeing broken glass, demonstrating that post-event information can distort memories and even create false ones.
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Loftus and Palmer (1974) Car Crash Experiment
A person witnesses a minor car accident where a blue car fails to stop at a stop sign. The next day, a police officer interviewing the witness asks, "How fast was the blue car going when it ran the yield sign?" Based on what is known about memory, what is the most likely outcome when the witness is asked to recall the event again a week later?
Loftus and Palmer (1974) Car Crash Experiment
Eyewitness Memory Analysis
An eyewitness saw a person quickly leave a store carrying a backpack, just before a fire alarm sounded. Later, an investigator asks the witness, 'What color was the weapon the person was holding?' Even though no weapon was initially reported, what is the most likely effect of this question on the witness's memory?