Factors affecting the accuracy of EWT- Leading Questions

What is a leading question?

A question which, because of the way it is phrased, suggests a certain answer, which can distort an eyyewitnesses memory

What is substitution explanation?

The wording of a leading question actually changes the participants memory.

What is confabulation?

Unknowingly filling in gaps with false but believable info

What is response bias explanation?

Suggests that the wording of the question has no real effect on the participants memories, but just influences how they decide to answer.

What is ecological validity

The extent to which findings can be generalised to other settings including the real world

What was Loftus and Palmer's first experiment (1974)

To see whether the verb used in a question can influence a participants memory of an event

Procedure, findings and conclusions from L+P experiment 1

45 students watched clips of car accidents and were asked "how fast were the cars going when they ____ into each other ?". Blank was filled with a different verb in each condition: smashed, collided, bumped, hit, contacted

Those asked with 'smashed' estimated higher speeds (mean 40.8 mph), those with 'contacted' lower (31.8 mph)

Wording of a question can bias how one remembers events- substitution explanation or response bias explanation

What was Loftus and Palmer's second experiment (1974)

To find out whether leading questions can actually change someone's memory of an event, rather than just how they answer (substitution explanation )

Procedure, findings and conclusion from L+P experiment 2

150 participants split into 3 conditions (smashed, hit and control), watched a multiple car accident film and asked about speed using the diff verbs (control group not asked about speed). Week later asked if saw broken glass- was none

Smashed group- 16/50 reported broken glass

Hit group- 7/50 reported broken glass

Control- 6/50

Loftus concluded that memory is reconstructive and can be distorted by leading questions, occurs through memory substitution and confabulation, showing EWT can be unreliable

Research has improved the legal process

Strength of research into leading questions is its practical application in the legal system

Loftus and Palmer's research led to changes for the police and legal professionals to avoid suggestive language when questioning witnesses, to avoid contaminating evidence.

Has contributed to the development of the cognitive interview- improves accuracy of EWT in IRL investigations

Means that research into leading questions has had a direct impact on improving the accuracy of EWT

Real-life EWT may be more reliable than lab studies suggest

Yuille and Cutshall's research challenges the claim that EWT is easily distorted,highlighting the importance of considering real-world in research and demonstrating that EWT can be reliable even in stressful situations

Interviewed witnesses of a real-life shooting incident both immediately and several months after

Despite being asked leading questions, e.g. if they saw a broken headlight, witnesses' recall remained accurate

Suggests IRL eye witnesses may be more resistant to the effects of leading questions in EWT than previously argued- stakes higher than in lab

Controlled studies show clear cause and effect

Another strength is the high level of control in lab based studies investigating EWT which enhances validity

Loftus and Palmer were able to isolate the effect of the verb by keeping all other variables constant which allowed for clear cause and effect conclusion confidently showing that leading questions can influence memory recall

Use of artificial tasks reduces ecological validity. Used video clips which doesn't replicate the stress and emotional impact of witnessing a real life accident. Without this emotional arousal peeps may not have processed the events in the same way, limiting generalisability of the findings of EWT research to real life situations