One event that triggered Loftus\u2019 explorations into memory reliability was the trial of Steve Titus. Titus was falsely identified as the man who raped a female hitchhiker. After looking at a lineup of photographs, the victim said Titus \u201clooked like the closest one\u201d. Later in the courtroom, Titus has become \u201cdefinitely the man\u201d who committed the crime. But an investigative journalist later found the real rapist, and Titus was acquitted and released from jail after one year.<\/span><\/p>\n But why did the victim\u2019s response change from, \u201clooks most like\u201d to \u201cdefinitely?\u201d Numerous studies have shown that our memories are reconstructive in nature, and during this reconstructive process, our memories are liable to be influenced by <\/span>misinformation<\/span><\/i>. That is to say, memories can be altered by providing wrong information to someone which is later remembered and recalled with confidence. This phenomenon has been labelled\u00a0the misinformation effect\u00a0<\/strong>and it can lead to confabulation (a false memory).<\/span><\/p>\n For a fascinating example of the misinformation effect altering eye-witness testimony and the importance of the innocence project, look up more information about Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino.<\/p><\/div>\n Loftus then began designing and conducting further research into this concept of false memory, as it has significant implications, especially for the justice system.<\/span><\/p>\n Along with the famous “car crash” studies by Loftus and Palmer (1971), these studies provide more evidence for the reconstructive nature of memory.<\/p>\n In this study, Jacqui Pickrell and Elizabeth Loftus used 24 participants who were lead to believe they were taking memory tests. They asked family members to provide details of three stories from when the participants were 4 – 6 years old. They also asked about details that could be plausibly added to a fictional story – being lost in the mall. So, for instance, the family members might give details like the name of the mall, or when they might have been shopping there. The family members also validated that the participant was never actually lost in the mall as a child. The participants read the descriptions of the four events that had been prepared by the researchers with the help of descriptions from the family members. The participants were interviewed soon after they read the descriptions of the events and then again in one week. The results showed that 5\/24 (i.e. 21%) of the participants recalled being lost in the mall, sometimes in great detail. They did, however, rate the memories as being less clear than the others. <\/span><\/p>\n Other replications of this research have implanted false memories of the following:<\/span><\/p>\n Here’s a TED Talk by Elizabeth Loftus…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The aim of this study was to see if it was possible in a laboratory setting for researchers to implant a false memory of committing a crime. The researchers gathered 70 Canadian college students who were randomly assigned to either the \u201ccriminal condition\u201d or the \u201cnon-criminal condition.\u201d They were interviewed three times over three weeks. In each interview, the participants were asked to describe two events: a true event (details were provided by a family member) and the a fictional account of committing a crime when they were about 10-14 years old (the participants were led to believe the details of this had also been given by their family member). The crimes were either theft, assault, or assault with a weapon. To encourage the production of false memories, the researchers encouraged the participants to practice visualization techniques at night and they also used subtle social pressure by saying most people can remember these kinds of things if they try hard enough. By the third interview, 21\/30 (70%) of the participants in the criminal condition had a false memory of committing the crime, some even giving specific details of their contact with the police at the time. This study provides evidence for the fact that how people are questioned can lead to false memories.<\/p>\n Here you can see a video of Julia Shaw explaining her research…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Critical Thinking Questions<\/b><\/p>\n References <\/b><\/p>\n “Elizabeth Loftus: The Fiction of Memory.” TED Talk.\u00a0<\/span>YouTube<\/span><\/i>. YouTube, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n Shaw, J., & Porter, S. (2015). Constructing Rich False Memories of Committing Crime.\u00a0Psychological Science<\/i>,\u00a026<\/i>(3), 291\u2013301. (Link<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" False Memories and the Misinformation Effect Background Information Elizabeth Loftus is a prominent memory researcher whose work has had significant impacts on the legal system in the United States. She is often called on to testify in legal cases against eye-witness testimony. In the past, if an eyewitness claimed that they saw someone commit a crime they would almost definitely … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/5105594032_150c252437_b.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1\")
\nLost in the Mall (Loftus and Pickrell, 1995)<\/b><\/h3>\n
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\nFalse memories of committing a crime (Shaw and Porter, 2015)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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