Loftus and Palmer

• Findings

  Experiment 1

  Verb - Mean estimate (mph)

  Smashed - 40.8

  Collided - 39.3

  Bumped - 38.1

  Hit - 34.0

  Contacted - 31.8

  Experiment 2

  Response

  Smashed - 16=yes, 34=no

  Hit - 7=yes,43=no

  Control - 6=yes, 44=no
• Conclusions

  • Concluded that form of question can markedly + systematically affect a EW answer to question, proposed 2 explanations for this.
  • Response bias factors: differences in speed estimates occur as the verb in the critical question biases a response.
  • Memory representation is altered: the critical word in the question changes the person's memory so their perception of the accident is affected.
  • Experiment 2 confirms EW memory is formed by 2 sources of input: what they see at the time + posts event information .The EW integrates both of these to form a new version of event stored in memory
• Methodology

  • experiment in a laboratory location
  • opportunity sampling method on student ppts
  • independent measures design
  • experiment 1: IV = verb in critical question, DV = mean estimate speed
  • experiment 2: IV = verb in question, DV = yes or not to broken glass question
• Experiment 1 - procedure

  • 45 ppts shown seven films about traffic accidents
  • they were then given a questionnaire which asked them to 'give an account of the accidents you have just seen'
  • the questionnaire included more specific questions were in a randomised order between ppts about the clips
  • included critical question which asked 'about how fast were the cars going when they ------?'
  • the blank space was filled with one of 5 verbs; 9 ppts got smashed, and other groups of 9 got hit, collided, bumped or contacted
  • ppts speed estimates recorded, the mean for each group was calculated
• Experiment 2 - procedure

  • 150 ppts shown one clip of a multiple-vehicle car crash
  • after ppts were asked to describe the accident, they were then asked about the speeds of the cars
  • 50 ppts asked 'how fast were cars going when they smashed into each other', another 50 were asked when they 'hit' and the last 50 were not asked about speed (control group)
  • 1 week later, the same ppts were asked questions about the clip, one of these being 'did you see any broken glass', there was none in the clip