Classic study: Loftus and Palmer Flashcards
What are the aims in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
They were interested in the idea that human memory is fallible, inspired by the theory of reconstructive memory.
In particular, memory can be influenced by information that occurs after an event (post-event information). This includes leading questions- questions that, by their form or content, suggest what answer is desired.
What was the procedure in the first experiment of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
An opportunity sample of 45 students was shown film clips of traffic accidents. The clips were short excerpts from safety films for drivers and ranged from 5-30 seconds long. The ppts were divided into 5 groups, each with 9 ppts. Following the film, all ppts were asked a question “About how fast were the cars going when they ———— (into) each other?”
Depending on the group the ppts were in, the gap in the question above was filled by one of 5 different verbs, either smashed, collided, bumped, hit or contacted.
What was the independent study in experiment 1 of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
The change in verb
What was the dependent variable in Experiment 1 of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
The speed estimates given by the ppts.
What were the results in experiement 1 Loftus and Palmer’s study?
Smashed- 40.5
Collided- 39.3
Bumped- 38.1
Hit- 34.0
Contacted- 31.8
What was the conclusions of Experiement 1 of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
The study provided powerdul evidence of the effect that post- event information can have on the recall of that event. However, a question remained about whether this was because the information in the question biased a person’s response or actually altered the person’s memory of the event.
What was the procedure in experiment 2 of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
150 ppts were shown a one minute film which included a short scene of a car accident. There were three conditions this time, though the independent variable, as before, was the wording of the critical question. 50 ppts were asked “How fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”. A second group were asked “How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” A third control group was not asked to estimate the speed of the vehicles.
After a week, the ppts were called back in. They were not given a second viewing of the film but were questioned about their recall of it. One of the questions they were asked was “Did you see any broken glass?” This appeared at a random point for each ppt as part of the longer interview THERE WAS NO BROKEN GLASS
What are the findings of experiement 2 of Loftus and Palmer’s study?
Those ppts in the “smashed” condition gave the highest estimate of speed. And also were significantly more likely to report seeing broken glass. Of those ppts who heard the word “smashed” 16 reported seeing broken glass in the film whereas omly 7 did in the “hit” condition and 6 in the control group.
What are the conclusions of experiement 2 in Loftus and Palmer’s study?
The findings suggest that post event information did not simply create a response bias. It actually altered the person’s memory of the event and generated expectations, such as likelihood that there was broken glass.
