misleading information

• innocence project 


  • organisation clears names of wrongly convicted people
  • eyewitness misidnetification greatest single cause of wrongful convictions USA, overturned by DNA later
• eye witness memory 


  1. encodes into LTM, may be partial as event occurs ... quickly, at night, and accompanied by rapid, violent, complex action
  2. retains information for a time- so memories may be lost or modified during retention, other activities may interfere with the memory itself
  3. retrieves memory from storage, may be a presence or absence of information- effecting the accuracy
• eye witness memory simple 


  1. encode (partial)
  2. can be modified
  3. correct cues present?
• factors affecting EWT


  • witness factors
  • event factors
• witness factors 


  • the person

  1. age
  2. race
  3. gender
  4. individual response to anxiety or stress
• event factors 


  • duration of event and level of violence witnessed
• misleading information, causes memory to become contaminated
• interviewers using leading questions can distort the event
• misleading information after the event can have a retroactive interfering on our recollection
• leading question 


  by form or content, suggests to the witness what answer is desired
• memories are like a wikipedia page, anyone can affect. they can be edited at anytime by us and others
• our memories can easily be altered by other information
• What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer's (1974) Experiment 1?

  To find out if the verb used in the critical question can affect speed estimates in a crash
• How many students participated in Loftus and Palmer's Experiment 1?

  45 students
• What type of design was used in Loftus and Palmer's Experiment 1?

  Independent Groups Design (IGD)
• How many films did participants watch in the experiment?

  7 films
• What was the duration of the films shown to participants?

  5 to 30 seconds
• What did participants do after watching each film?

  They filled out a questionnaire about what they had seen
• What was the critical question asked in the questionnaire?

  About the car speed using a changing verb
• What was the aim of Loftus and Palmer's (1974) Experiment 1?

  To find out if the verb used in the critical question can affect speed estimates in a crash
• How many students participated in Loftus and Palmer's (1974) Experiment 1?

  45 students
• What were the five conditions of the critical question in the experiment 1 (lotus + palmer 1974)

  Hit, smashed, collided, bumped, or contacted
• What type of design was used in Loftus and Palmer's (1974) Experiment 1?

  Independent Groups Design (IGD)
• What was the average speed estimate for the "contacted" condition?

  31.8 mph
• What was the average speed estimate for the "smashed" condition?

  40.5 mph
• How many films did participants watch in the experiment 1 (lotus + palmer)

  7 films
• What conclusion did Loftus and Palmer draw from their experiment 1?

  The verb in the question influenced participants' speed estimates
• What was the duration range of the films shown to participants in experiment 1

  5 to 30 seconds
• What did participants do after watching each film in experiment 1

  They filled out a questionnaire
• What concept does the loftus + palmer illustrate regarding memory?

  Leading questions can distort memory of events
• What is social desirability or response bias in the context of this loftus + palmer 1?

  It refers to how a person's schema for the verb influences their memories and biases their response
• What was the critical question asked about the films (lotus + palmer 1)

  It was about the car speed using a changing verb
• How does the verb used in questions affect memory recall according to Loftus and Palmer's findings?

  It can lead to different speed estimates based on the verb's schema
• What were the five conditions of the critical question in the experiment 1

  Hit, smashed, collided, bumped, or contacted
• What was the average speed estimate for the "smashed" condition?

  40.5 mph
• What was the average speed estimate for the "contacted" condition?

  31.8 mph
• What conclusion did Loftus and Palmer draw from their experiment 1

  The verb in the question influenced participants' speed estimates
• What concept explains how the verb influences memory in Loftus and Palmer's study 1

  Social desirability and response bias
• How does a person's schema for a verb influence their memory according to the study?

  It biases a person's response
• loftus + palmer (1974) 2


  a = if leading questions changed responses or their memories were altered