Misleading Information On EWT AO1

• If the wording of a question leads someone to an answer this decreases the accuracy of EWT
• LOFTUS & PALMER showed students film clips of car accidents and asked them questions
• In the critical question, they were asked to estimate how fast the cars were going when they contacted/smashed
• The critical verb changed


  For 'contacted', the mean estimate was 31.8mph, whereas for 'smashed' it was 40.5
• The wording of the question likely distorted the schemas of the participants
• The substitution explanation suggests memory is changed
• When Loftus later asked if they'd seen broken glass (when there was none), participants said 'smashed' more often than 'hit'
• Post-event discussion also decreases accuracy of EWT
• GABBERT showed participants separate clips of the same crime from different points of view
• If they discussed before being interviewed, 71% of participants included details they hadn't seen, but others had
• A control group with no discussion included no details they hadn't seen
• Memory contamination


  When discussion distorts individual memories, although it could be memory conformity - just agreeing with others for social approval
• So there may be no actual memory change