Misleading Information on Eyewitness Testimony

Loftus and Palmer Car speed

- participants watched a film of 2 cars crashing

- asked how fast the cars were going

- groups given a different verb each:

- hit, contacted, bumped, collided and smashed

- smashed claimed the highest speed of around 40mph whereas hit claimed 31mph.

What other experiments did Loftus (and Palmer) conduct?

- Loftus and Palmer did a follow up type experiment where participants watched a car crash video and were called back after a week and asked 'Did you see the broken glass?)

- The more intense the verb the more likely the ppt was to recall glass

- Loftus and Zanni - did you see a/the broken headlight?

Gabbert et al. Post-Event discussion

- Participants were asked to watch a video of a girl stealing a wallet.

- The ppts were put into pairs, each watching the video from a different angle.

- The ppts then discussed what they saw together before answering a questionnaire.

- 71% recalled things they did not actually see

- there was a control group who did not incorrectly recall anything

Memory Contamination

A witness' memory combines with that of another witness and the memory becomes distorted.

Memory Conformity

A witness goes along with what other witnesses saw as they believe they are correct, but their actual memory stays the same.