Loftus, E. F. Reconstructive memory and the misinformation effect

Loftus

This entry covers the body of work on reconstructive memory and the misinformation effect: the finding that memory is not a recording that can be played back, but an account rebuilt each time it is recalled, and that information encountered after an event becomes incorporated into the memory of the event itself. The practical consequence, demonstrated repeatedly, is that the way a question is worded can alter what a witness subsequently remembers seeing, and that people report altered details with full confidence. The citation as recorded names the author and the topic without identifying a specific paper, so anything drawn from it should be traced to a particular study before publication.

This entry covers the body of work on reconstructive memory and the misinformation effect: the finding that memory is not a recording that can be played back, but an account rebuilt each time it is recalled, and that information encountered after an event becomes incorporated into the memory of the event itself. The practical consequence, demonstrated repeatedly, is that the way a question is worded can alter what a witness subsequently remembers seeing, and that people report altered details with full confidence. The citation as recorded names the author and the topic without identifying a specific paper, so anything drawn from it should be traced to a particular study before publication.

Written from the citation as recorded when this source was checked.

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Loftus, E. F. Reconstructive memory and the misinformation effect.

Where we use it

  • Your Nostalgia Is Lying to You, Why We Come Back

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Loftus, E. F. Reconstructive memory and the misinformation effect.