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Misinformation Effects: How Information That Comes Later Can Distort Memory
A particular problem for eyewitnesses such as Jennifer Thompson is that our memories are often
influenced by the things that occur to us after we have learned the information (Erdmann,
Volbert, & Böhm, 2004; Loftus, 1979; Zaragoza, Belli, & Payment, 2007). [10] This new
information can distort our original memories such that the we are no longer sure what is the real
information and what was provided later. The misinformation effect refers to errors in memory
that occur when new information influences existing memories.
In an experiment by Loftus and Palmer (1974), [11] participants viewed a film of a traffic
accident and then, according to random assignment to experimental conditions, answered one of
three questions:
“About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?”
“About how fast were the cars going when they smashed each other?”
“About how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other?”As you can see in Figure 8.20 "Misinformation Effect", although all the participants saw the
same accident, their estimates of the cars’ speed varied by condition. Participants who had been
asked about the cars “smashing” each other estimated the highest average speed, and those who
had been asked the “contacted” question estimated the lowest average speed.