Describe findings from both experiments in Loftus&Palmer (6)

• Experiment 1

  In Experiment 1, Loftus and Palmer found that the verb used in the critical question affected participants’ speed estimates of a car crash. The word “smashed” produced the highest mean speed estimate (40.8 mph), while “contacted“ produced the lowest (31.8 mph). This demonstrated that more intense verbs led to higher speed estimates, suggesting that memory can be distorted by the wording of a question, supporting the idea of response bias.
• Experiment 2

  In experiment 2, participants who heard the verb “smashed” were more than twice as likely to report seeing broken glass a week later, compared to the “hit” and control groups - even though there was no glass. 16 people in the “smashed” group falsely remembered broken glass, compared to just 7 in the “hit” group and 6 in the control. This shows that leading questions can not only influence immediate recall but can also distort long-term memory through post-event information.