The Loftus & Palmer study was a psychological study carried out by Elizabeth Loftus and Palmer in 1974. The aim of the study was to investigate whether or not an eyewitness’s memory can be changed by information supplied to them after an event. Loftus and Palmer also wished to discover whether or not a person's memory can be influenced by this information.
The purpose of the study was to determine how memory is influenced by circumstances and prompting surrounding memory storage and recall. Previous studies had established that memories were not necessarily accurate representations of actual events but were actually constructed using past experiences and other influences. Loftus & Palmer carried out two studies. The first was tested on forty-five students split into five categories, each with nine students. The second was carried out on one hundred and fifty students. In the first study forty-five students from the University of Washington were shown seven film clips of car accidents. The clips ranged from five to thirty seconds long. After viewing each clip the students were asked to write a report on what they had seen. They were asked a series of questions about the videos. The critical question in this study was "At what speed was the car traveling?" The five categories of students were asked this question but with a different verb. Loftus and Palmer wanted to see if the verb influenced the students answers.
