How memory works: why you can be sure of something that never happened
The misinformation effect: how one word in a question changes what you remember
Ask people how fast two cars were going when they smashed, not when they hit, and they guess faster. How far can one word in a question change what you remember?
-
1
A few days later, Rono laughs: "Remember when the storm smashed my tent?" In his video, the wind only folds it flat.
-
2
In 1974, the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus showed people a film of a car crash. Then she asked one word differently: how fast were the cars going when they "hit", or "smashed into", each other?
The rest of this episode is for subscribers
Subscribe to read every premium episode. You can cancel when you want.
Paid yearly: $99 instead of $119.88