Loftus and Palmer were investigating the reconstructive nature of human memory.They showed a video clip of a traffic accident and asked participants in their experiment to estimate how fast the cars had been traveling.For half the participants, the question contained the phrase "smashed into," and for the remainder, the question contained the phrase "contacted." Loftus and Palmer found that the participants who heard the phrase "smashed into":
A)believed that the drivers of both vehicles were intoxicated
B)reported the details of the accident with greater accuracy
C)recalled a higher speed accident
D)omitted most of the details of events right after the accident occurred

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Participants who heard the phrase "smashed into" estimated a higher speed for the cars compared to those who heard the phrase "contacted." This suggests that the wording of the question affected the participants' memory of the event, and they reconstructed their memory to fit the language used in the question.

Loftus and Palmer Were Investigating the Reconstructive Nature of Human