11/30/21 Call with Gail Goodman

11/30/21 Call with Gail Goodman • Loftus describes her work at a very high level (e.g. memory is malleable), but studies are contrived and artificial o In actual cases, people can have v. strong memories, including about things that happened in adolescence. Don't get these effects. • Example: Loftus study on being lost in the mall. parent said it happened when they were very young. Strong suggestion. And used tricks of the trade. • Cf. study of false memory of an enema in adults: no false memories. • Can't generalize across content • Content matters a lot more than Loftus would acknowledge • Loftus studies are often with students and student siblings. Nothing is at stake, so people use a low criterion for what they call a memory • Not saying there can't be false memories, but small minority of people (e.g. alien abduction) • A small subset of people can have memory errors from media reports. Loftus has a study in which some people falsely reported seeing a cat who