Eyewitness testimony: misleading information

• Who’s research was leading questions?

  Loftus and Palmer (1974)
• procedure of Loftus and Palmer (1974)

  • 45 participants (students) watched film clips of car accidents and then answered questions about speed
  • critical question: about how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
  • 5 groups of participants, each participants were given a different verb in the critical question: hot, contacted, bumped, collided or smashed
• findings of Lofter and Palmer (1974)

  • The verb ’contacted’ produced a mean estimated speed of 31.8mph
  • for the verb ‘smashed’ the mean was 40.5
• conclusion of Loftus and Palmer (1974)


  The leading question (verb) biased eyewitness recall of an event. The verb smashed suggested a faster speed of the car than contacted
• why do leading questions affect EWT?

  • response bias explanation: wording of a question has no enduring effect on an eyewitness testimony of an event, but influences the kind of answer given
  • substitution explanation: wording of a question does affect eyewitness memory, it interferes with the original memory, distorting its accuracy
• who researched post even discussion

  Gabbert (2003)
• procedure of Gabbert (2003)

  • paired participants (matched pairs) watched a video of the same crime, but filmed so each participant could see elements in the event that the other could not
  • both participants discussed what they had seen on the video before individually completing a test of recall
• findings of Gabert (2003)

  • 71% participants wrongly recalled aspects of the even they didnt see in the video but had heard in the discussion
  • Control group- there was no discussion and no subsequent errors
• conclusion of gabbert (2003)


  there was evidence of memory conformity
• why does post event information affect EWT?

  • memory contamination: when co-witnesses discuss a crime, they mix (mis)information from other witnesses with their own memories
  • memory conformity: witnesses go along with each other to win social approval or because they believe other witnesses are right
• what is a leading question?

  A leading question is a question that suggests a particular answer or leads the respondent to a desired answer.
• One strength is real world applications to the criminal justice system

  The consequences of inaccurate EWT are serious. Lotus (1975) argues police officers should be careful in phrasing equations to witnesses because of distorting effects. Psychologists are sometimes expert witnesses in trials and explain limites of EWT to juries. Therefore psychologists can improve how the legal system works and protect the innocent from faulty convictions based on unreliable EWT
• one strength is real world applications in the criminal justice system: counterpoint

  Loftus and Palmer showed film clips - a different experience from a real event (less stress). participants are also less concerned about the effect of their responses in a lab study (Foster 1994). therefore researchers may be too pessimistic about the effects of misleading information - EWT may be more reliable than studies suggest
• one limitation of the substitution explanation is evidence challenging it

  Sutherland and Hayne (2001) found their participants recalled central details of an event better than peripheral ones, even when asked leading questions. this is presumably because their attention was focused on the central features and these memories were relatively resistant to misleading information. therefore the original memory of the event survived and was not distorted, which is not predicted by the substitution explanation
• another limitation is that evidence does not support memory conformity

  Skagerberg and Wrights (2008) participants discussed film clips they had seen (in one version the mugger had dark brown hair and the other light brown). the participants recalled a ‘blend’ of what they had seen and heard from their co-witness, rather than one or the other (e.g. said hair was medium brown). this suggests that the memory itself is distorted through contamination by post even discussion and it not the result of memory conformity