Day 6 of 150 Memory Difficulty 6/10
Leading words can implant memory of an event that never happened
Quick answer
Leading words can implant memory of an event that never happened. Today's question (Misinformation effect) asks about a finding from Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. in 1974. The correct option is Falsely "remember" broken glass that was not in the film — full explanation, primary source, and glossary cross-links below.
Today's question
Loftus & Palmer's "smashed vs. hit" paradigm produced two findings. In the follow-up experiment, participants who had heard the verb "smashed" returned a week later and were more likely to:
Reveal the answer and explanation
Correct: B — Falsely "remember" broken glass that was not in the film
The 1974 paper reports two experiments. In Experiment 1, varying the verb ("smashed," "collided," "bumped," "hit," "contacted") shifted speed estimates upward for stronger verbs. In Experiment 2, with a separate participant group, the same verb manipulation was followed a week later by the question "Did you see any broken glass?" — Ss in the "smashed" condition were more than twice as likely to falsely answer yes. The original film contained no broken glass. The pair is the founding demonstration that memory is reconstructive, not playback, and that post-event language can revise the trace.
About the source
Loftus, E. F., & Palmer, J. C. (1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(5), 585–589.
Every Cognition Bible question cites a primary source — a paper, book chapter, or monograph that exists, that we can point to on Google Scholar, and whose finding the question accurately summarizes. No fabricated authority strings, no name-drops without paper-level grounding.
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