Loftus and Palmer (1974) Exp 1

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to investiagate whether the use of leading questions would affect an eyewitness’s estimation of speed and thus test their hypothesis that the language using in eyewitness testimony can alter memory,

Question 2

procedure

Answer 2

45 uni students participated in thsi expeiment. They were divided into five groups of nine students. Seven short films of traffic accidents were shown. When the participants had watched a film they were asked to give an account of the accident they had seen and the they answered a questionnaire with different questions about the accident. There was one crucial questionnwhich was the one asking the participants to estimate teh speed of the cars involved in the accident and each question included different verbs. Nine participants were asked ‘About how fast were the cars going when they hit each oher?” The critical word “hit” was replaced by collided, bumped, or smashed or conatcted in the other conditions

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

teh mean estimate of speed were highest in the ‘smashed’condition (40.8 mph) and lowest in the çontacted group (31.8mph) . The findings were that the more intense the verb that was used the higher the average estimate

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

the researchers concluded that leading questions can affect speed estimation. The study dmonstartes the role that schemas can play in how we recall an event and the idea that memory is unreliable due to its reconstructive nature.

Question 5

link

Answer 5

teh study shows the effect of schemas on memory as the information learnt after the event interfered with teh original memory of what happened, supporting the misinformation effect. When the different verbs are used, they activate schemas that have different sense of meaning. Hearing the word ‘smashed’caused the memory to reconstruct a more severe picture than hearing the word ‘hit’or contacted thus the connotation of the verb influenced how the memory is formed and consequently higher speed estimates. The study study demonstarted that the questions asked after witnessing an event can influence a person’s memory of that event si it is more distorted and may casue unreliability, Thi sall supports the idea that schemas affect the way memories are encoded, stored and retrieved.