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)were more likely to report seeing broken glass
B)reported the details of the accident with greater accuracy
C)had greater difficulty recalling the colors of the vehicles
D)could not recall how many passengers were in each of the cars

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Loftus and Palmer found that participants who heard the phrase "smashed into" were more likely to report seeing broken glass than those who heard the phrase "contacted." This suggests that the use of a more intense verb (i.e. "smashed") can influence the reconstruction of memory, leading participants to incorporate details they did not actually see.

Loftus and Palmer Were Investigating the Reconstructive Nature of Human