Leading Questions

• What does the wording of a question not have?

  An enduring effect on an eyewitness's memory of an event
• What does the wording of a question influence?

  The kind of answer given
• How does the wording of a question affect eyewitness memory?

  It interferes with its original memory, distorting its accuracy
• Who conducted the study on leading questions?

  Loftus and Palmer (74)
• What did they have Ps do?

  45 Ps watched film clips of car accidents and then answered questions about the speed
• What was the critical question?

  'About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?'
• What were the 5 groups of Ps, each given?

  A different verb in the critical question: hit, contacted, bumped, collided or smashed
• What did the verb 'contacted' produce a mean estimated speed of?

  31.8 mph
• What was the mean for the verb 'smashed'?

  40.5 mph
• What did the verb 'smashed' suggest?

  A faster speed of the car that 'contacted'