Loftus and Palmer Study free essay sample

There are variables that may affect memory and recall. Aim How information provided after an event in the form of leading questions may effect peoples memories. Experiment 1 Participants 45 students from the University of Washington. Procedure Participants shown seven videos of car crashes ranging from 4 to 30 seconds long. The videos were excerpts from drivers ed courses so the researchers were aware of the speeds of the cars. The videos were shown to the participants in random order. After each video participants were given a questionnaire which asked them to give an account of the film they had seen. Then they were asked to answer some questions based on what they had seen. Results Verb|Mean Estimate. Smashed|40. 8, Collided|39. 3, Bumped|38. 1, Hit|34. 0, Contacted|31. 8. Discussion Loftus and Palmer argue that memories are based on two types of imformation: What we percieve at the time of the event and what we find out after the event. We will write a custom essay sample on Loftus and Palmer Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They argue that what they hear after the event can distort our memories. In this experiment loftus and palmer argue that two things can be happening: Distortion and Response Bias. Distortion: The verbed used may lead the participant to amend their memory. For example the word smashed may lead the participants to estimate the speed higher than it actually was. Response Bias: (a form of demand characteristics) The participants may not have been sure about the speed and so they may have adjusted their answer to fit the researchers expectations. In the above experiment the researchers were uncertain whether their prompts altered the participants memories or if it had led them to give a certain answer. The second experiment is to show that information provided after an event is capable of distorting memories. Experiment 2 Participants 150 students from the University of Washington. Procedure The participants were shown a short film of a multiple car crash, which lasted for one minute, though the action lasted for four seconds. The participants were split into three groups. The first group were asked: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? The second group were asked: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other? The third group was the control group and were not asked about the speed of the cars. A week later the participants were recalled and asked some more questions about the film. Nine of these were filler questions. The critical question was: Did you see any broken glass? This question appeared randomly in the other question. (There was no broken glass in the film) Results The results supported that of the first experiment. The participants in the smashed condition overestimated the speed of the cars. The participants who reported seeing broken glass: Condition|% who answered yes. Smashed|32%, Hit|14%, Control|12%. Discussion The results suggest that the verb used affect memory altering their perception a week later. The word smashed incorporates broken glass in to their memories as the word smashed implies broken glass. Loftus and Palmer support the reconstructive memory hypothesis. They believe that information gathered at the time of an icident is altered by information gathered after an event. These two sources of information merge over time and it is impossible to seperate them. Evaluation ^ Strength control over confounding variables. The researchers could control age, incident viewed, environment etc. ^ The reconstructive memory hypothesis is useful in instances such as in formulating guidelines for police questioning of witnesses and suspects. x Ecological validity is a problem as a video is different to experiencing a real life car crash. In real life the crash would be unexpected and there would be more emotional involvement which would effect recall. The sample was of students from the same place and studying at the same level. They may have wanted to please the senior members and their memory capacity may not have been the same as that of the general population. They may be better at memorising or they werent bothered with remembering something as trivial as this. x Some psychologists have critiscised Loftus and Palmers conclusions. They argue that we have no way of knowing that the memory has been distorted. (taken from:http://selene. wordpress. com /2006/04/02/loftus-and-palmer/) Loftus and Palmer Study free essay sample There are variables that may affect memory and recall. Aim How information provided after an event in the form of leading questions may effect peoples memories. Experiment 1 Participants 45 students from the University of Washington. Procedure Participants shown seven videos of car crashes ranging from 4 to 30 seconds long. The videos were excerpts from drivers ed courses so the researchers were aware of the speeds of the cars. The videos were shown to the participants in random order. Results Verb|Mean Estimate. Smashed|40. 8, Collided|39. 3, Bumped|38. 1, Hit|34. 0, Contacted|31. 8. Discussion Loftus and Palmer argue that memories are based on two types of imformation: What we percieve at the time of the event and what we find out after the event. They argue that what they hear after the event can distort our memories. In this experiment loftus and palmer argue that two things can be happening: Distortion and Response Bias. Distortion: The verbed used may lead the participant to amend their memory. We will write a custom essay sample on Loftus and Palmer Study or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page For example the word smashed may lead the participants to estimate the speed higher than it actually was. Response Bias: (a form of demand characteristics) The participants may not have been sure about the speed and so they may have adjusted their answer to fit the researchers expectations. In the above experiment the researchers were uncertain whether their prompts altered the participants memories or if it had led them to give a certain answer. The second experiment is to show that information provided after an event is capable of distorting memories. Experiment 2 Participants 150 students from the University of Washington. Procedure The participants were shown a short film of a multiple car crash, which lasted for one minute, though the action lasted for four seconds. The participants were split into three groups. The first group were asked: How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? The second group were asked: How fast were the cars going when they hit each other? The third group was the control group and were not asked about the speed of the cars. A week later the participants were recalled and asked some more questions about the film. Nine of these were filler questions. The critical question was: Did you see any broken glass? This question appeared randomly in the other question. (There was no broken glass in the film) Results The results supported that of the first experiment. The participants in the smashed condition overestimated the speed of the cars. The participants who reported seeing broken glass: Condition|% who answered yes. Smashed|32%, Hit|14%, Control|12%. Discussion The results suggest that the verb used affect memory altering their perception a week later. The word smashed incorporates broken glass in to their memories as the word smashed implies broken glass. Loftus and Palmer support the reconstructive memory hypothesis. They believe that information gathered at the time of an icident is altered by information gathered after an event. These two sources of information merge over time and it is impossible to seperate them. Evaluation ^ Strength control over confounding variables. The researchers could control age, incident viewed, environment etc. ^ The reconstructive memory hypothesis is useful in instances such as in formulating guidelines for police questioning of witnesses and suspects. x Ecological validity is a problem as a video is different to experiencing a real life car crash. In real life the crash would be unexpected and there would be more emotional involvement which would effect recall. The sample was of students from the same place and studying at the same level. They may have wanted to please the senior members and their memory capacity may not have been the same as that of the general population. They may be better at memorising or they werent bothered with remembering something as trivial as this. x Some psychologists have critiscised Loftus and Palmers conclusions. They argue that we have no way of knowing that the memory has been distorted.