LOFTUS AND PALMER
CORE STUDY SLIDES
• Get out your APFC
Loftus and Palmer (1974) – Reconstruction of automobile
destruction: an examples of the interaction between language
and memory
The context:
•The inaccuracy of EWT is a serious concern
•Inaccurate EWT is the main factor leading to false convictions
•The Innocence Project claims that misidentification played a
role in more that 75% of convictions that were subsequently
overturned
Based on your knowledge for today, what might have led to
these misidentifications?
Why do you think they were overturned? What new evidence
did they have?
Loftus and Palmer Aims
To investigate the accuracy or inaccuracy of memory.
In particular, they wanted to investigate the effect of leading
questions on the estimate of speed.
This experiment had 2 procedures, therefore there was a
specific aim for each procedure.
Procedure 1:
Aimed to see if the estimates given by participants about the
speed of vehicles in a traffic accident would be influenced by
the wording of the question asked.
How might they have done this?
Learning objectives:
To understand the context and aims of Loftus and Palmer’s study
To be able to describe the previous research leading up to Loftus and Palmer’s study
Procedure 1
• 45 student participants
• Shown seven film clips of different traffic
accidents
• Length ranged from 5-30 seconds
• Afterwards participants received a
questionnaire
• They were also asked a series of questions
How fast were the cars
going when they...
Hit each other?
Smashed into each other?
Collided with each other?
Bumped into each other?
• Among these questions was one critical
question:
• About how fast were the cars going when
they_________ each other?
• This is the question that was testing whether
or not wording had an effect
Contacted with each other?
9 participants
in each
condition.
This experiment had 2 procedures, therefore there was a
specific aim for each procedure.
Procedure 2:
The second procedure aimed to investigate whether or not
leading questions bias a person’s response OR actually alter
the memory that is stored…
How might they have done this?
Procedure 2
• 150 student participants
Part 1:
•Shown film of a multiple car crash (actual crash
less than 4 seconds)
•Asked a set of questions, including the critical
question.
How fast were the cars
going when they...
Hit each other?
Smashed into each other?
Control group – no question
•Split into 3 groups
Part 2:
•One week later participants asked to return to
the lab
•Asked further questions including a critical
question:
•‘Did you see any broken glass?’
50 participants
in each
condition.
THE HOT SEAT
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1.
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A NAME WILL BE PICKED USING THE RANDOM NAME
G E N E R ATO R .
T H AT S T U D E N T W I L L T H E N A N S W E R Q U E S T I O N S O N T H E
L O F T U S A N D PA L M E R F R O M T H E C L A S S .
THE PUPIL HAS 1 LIFE AND ONE LIFELINE (LIFELINES ALLOW
YO U TO A S K T H E I R C L A S S M AT E S F O R A C LU E )
EXAM FOCUS
Complete the following questions:
1. Identify two experimental groups in Experiment 2. (2)
2. Outline one difference between the responses given by the two
experimental groups in Experiment 2. (2)
3. Describe the sample in the first experiment. (2)