Christopher Perry

2/24/2015
Psych 111
Do you believe that your memory is an exact rendition of what happened? When
someone asks you to tell them a story you normally dont remember every aspect of that story?
Most of us think that what we remember is an exact representation of the original event.
Elizabeth Loftus, a prominent researcher of memory at University of Washington wondered just
that. Are memories an exact reply of the event or is it really constructed bits formed in a way to
make sense. Loftus went on to conduct 4 of her own experiments.
Her studies concentrated on the power of presuppositions in altering memory. Loftus
defines a presupposition as a Condition that must be true for the question to make sense (Hock
118). If the question is asked, how many people were in the speeding vehicle? You would give
your best answer not knowing whether or not the car was speeding. You must presume that the
car was speeding in order to make sense of the question. Then if you are asked about the car
later, the idea of the car speeding will have imbedded into your memory creating a false
reconstructed memory of the event. Loftus hypothesized that if eyewitnesses are asked
questions that contain a false presupposition about the witnessed event, the new false information
may be incorporated into the witnesss memory of the event and appear subsequently in new
testimony by the witness. (Hock, 2013, 119).
Loftuss experimental research consisted of 4 experiments. Her first two experiments
were very similar in style. She would gather participants and show them a film of some sort and
then give them a questionnaire at the end pertaining to the film. However, Experiment 2 was
very significant because it was the first to incorporate a delayed memory test. 40 participants
watched a segment from the film, Diary of a Student Revolution, of a class being disturbed by
eight antiwar demonstrators. After the segment, they were given the questions. Half of them were
asked Was the leader of the four demonstrators who entered the classroom male? (Hock 119).

The other half were asked was the leader of the twelve demonstrators who entered the
classroom male? (Hock, 2013, 119). Both of these groups are the experimental groups. A week
later they were questioned again without seeing the segment again. One of the questions was,
How many demonstrators did you see enter the room? This was Loftus dependent variable, the
amount of demonstrators seen by each group. The group previously asked about 12
demonstrators answered on averaged seeing 8.85 demonstrators. However, the group pertaining
to 4 demonstrators answered on averaged seeing 6.40 demonstrators. The results were significant
because it explained that just the wording of a question with a false presupposition could alter
and reconstruct a persons memory over a length of time.
Loftus conducted experiment 4 so she may advance her idea of memory reconstruction
effects she found in experiment 3. Loftus wondered if false presuppositions could make a witness
include objects in their memory that were originally not included in the event. Also could just
mentioning an object be enough to slip into someones memory. A short film was shown to three
groups containing 50 participants. The film shown was of the inside of a car that crashes into a
man pushing a baby carriage. Again the three groups were asked different questions. There was a
control group, Group C, which were asked only 40 filler questions, and 2 experimental groups,
groups D and F. (Hock, 2013, 120). Group D is the direct question group in which they were
asked 40 filler questions contained 5 key questions that directly asked about nonexistent objects.
Group F o the other hand were asked the same 40 questions except 5 key questions containing
presuppositions about the same non existing objects. A week later each group returned and were
asked 20 new questions containing the 5 key questions that group D had seen a week before
about non existing objects. (Hock, 2013, 121). The dependent variable is the percentage of yes

responses to direct question a week later whereas the independent variables were whether or not
the question asked contained the false presupposition or not.
The results were very important. For the false-presupposition group, 29.2% answered yes
to seeing the nonexistent object inherited in the question. And 15.6% said yes as well of the
direct question group. However, 8.4% of the control group answered yes as well. This group was
never asked before about any object that did not exist until now. These results were significant
because it proved Loftus hypothesis that just the mention of an object even when it is not
inherited into a presupposition can be enough to slip into a persons memory. The differences
between the direct question group and the false-presupposition group for each item, as well as for
all the items combined, were statistically significant. (Hock, 2013, 121).
From her study, Loftus argued her idea that memory has a process of reconstruction. Her
finding were very important because her theory explains how we form new memories. The
traditional view proposed that one will first have an original experience, then turning the event
into long term memory. Later a question would be asked pertaining to the original experience,
0argued. Her theory was similar however, after turning an experience into a long-term memory,
it is formed into a reconstructed memory of original experience. Therefore when a question is
asked you recall that reconstructed memory with new information to respond.
Currently we havent gotten to memory in class, however I wonder if you could relate
Loftus findings to social cognitive theory of hypnosis. People who are hypnotized are not in a
altered state but are merely playing the role expected of them in the situation. (Ciccarelli, 2014,
149). Could you propose a theory that when people are asked a question containing a
presupposition they are just answering what is expected. Or perhaps they are answering the
question because they have to believe the statement is true to make sense of it.

After reading this study I am interested in knowing if the same process happens when I
read a story and then recall it to a person when they ask about the story. Loftus only showed her
participants videos, however could you conduct the same experiment with a written passage? Or
maybe we recall things better when we read about it rather than visualize it. This is something I
could take into my own account and test it for myself.

Works Cited
Hock, R. (2009). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of
psychological research (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
White Noland J. & Saundra k. Ciccarelli. (2014). Psychology 3rd ed. New Jersey: Pearson.