In the prologue to Chapter 6, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus erroneously remembered finding her mother's body in her uncle's swimming pool. What contributed to Loftus's false memory of this event?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Loftus's false memory was likely a result of confusion over the actual source of the memory, rather than hypnosis or encoding failure. She had heard stories about her uncle's swimming pool and her mother's death, and over time these memories may have become distorted and merged together into a false memory. Additionally, Loftus's research on memory has shown that memories can be influenced by suggestions and other external factors, but in this case it appears that confusion over the source of the memory was the main contributing factor. Anterograde amnesia, which involves the inability to form new memories after a certain point in time, would not be relevant in this case as the false memory was created after the event had already occurred.

In the Prologue to Chapter 6, Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus Erroneously