Loftus and Palmer

Question 1

What area is Loftus & Palmer in?

Answer 1

cognitive area

Question 2

What is Loftus & Palmer’s background?

Answer 2

Marshall (1969) Air Force Personnel unable to estimate the speed of a moving car - 12mph car estimated between 10-50mph

Question 3

What is the aim of Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 3

to see if wording of questions influence participants estimates of speeds of cars

Question 4

What is the aim of Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 4

to see if leading questions distort memory

Question 5

What is the method design of Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 5

lab experiment
independent measures
snapshot study

Question 6

What is the method design of Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 6

lab experiment
independent measures
longitudinal study

Question 7

What is the sample of Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 7

45 American students

Question 8

What is the sample of Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 8

150 American students

Question 9

What materials were used in Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment? (what did they watch)

Answer 9

7 film clips- 5-30 seconds long
different traffic accidents- originally made for a driver’s education program for the Evergreen Safety Council + Seattle Police Department
questionnaire

Question 10

What materials were used in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 10

1 minute video- 4 second multiple car accident
questionnaire

Question 11

What was the critical question in Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 11

‘About how fast were the cars going when they __ each other?’

Question 12

What were the different experimental groups Loftus & Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 12

5 different verbs:
smashed, collided, bumped, contacted, hit

Question 13

How many participant’s were in each group in Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment?

Answer 13

9 per group- 45 overall

Question 14

What were the different experimental groups Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 14

group 1- smashed
group 2 - hit
group 3 - control

Question 15

What was the critical question in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 15

‘How fast were the cars going when they ___ into each other?’

Question 16

What did Loftus & Palmer’s second study ask in its questionnaire?

Answer 16

to describe the accident
series of specific questions on the accident
critical question on speed

Question 17

After how long were Loftus and Palmer’s participants asked to return in the second experiment?

Answer 17

1 week

Question 18

What critical question did Loftus & Palmer ask in the second experiment (1 week later)? How many other questions asked?

Answer 18

‘Did you see any broken glass?’
embedded into a 10 question list

Question 19

Which of the verbs used in Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment had the highest estimated speed given? What speed?

Answer 19

smashed
40.8mph

Question 20

Which of the verbs used in Loftus and Palmer’s first experiment had the lowest estimated speed given? What speed?

Answer 20

contacted
31.8mph

Question 21

How fast did participants say the cars were going in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 21

smashed- 10.46mph
hit- 8mph

Question 22

In each group, how many said they saw broken glass in Loftus & Palmer’s second experiment?

Answer 22

smashed - 16/50
hit - 7/50
control group - 6/50

Question 23

What correlation did Loftus & Palmer find in his second experiment?

Answer 23

the faster the cars estimated = more likely to report broken glass

Question 24

What 2 sources did Loftus & Palmer propose that memory is determined by?

Answer 24

own perception made at time of the event
external info given after the event

Question 25

What explanations does Loftus & Palmer say about why wording of questions changes behaviour?

Answer 25

response-bias factor - different words have different effects eg. smashed = high impact accident = high estimate of speed
memory is altered - changes perception of accident eg. more serious accident stored in memory