Elizabeth F. Loftus

"The study of memory had become my specialty, my passion. In the next few years I wrote dozens of papers about how memory works and how it fails, but unlike most researchers studying memory, my work kept reaching out into the real world. To what extent, I wondered, could a person's memory be shaped by suggestion? When people witness a serious automobile accident, how accurate is their recollection of the facts? If a witness is questioned by a police officer, will the manner of questioning show more alter the representation of the memory? Can memories be supplemented with additional, false information?"
The "passion" Loftus describes in the lines above led her to a teaching career at the University of Washington and, perhaps more importantly, into hundreds of courtrooms as an expert witness on the fallibility of eyewitness accounts. As she has explained in numerous trials, and as she convincingly argues in this absorbing book, eyewitness accounts can be and often are so distorted that they no longer resemble the truth. show less

I had expected a book on the workings of memory, on the plasticity of refound memories and so on. And while these are in here, the book is mainly the story of the author being shocked to find herself in a psychological war about the possibility of retrieving repressed memories, a war where everything she values is questioned. I was impressed with her refusal to accuse any people of bad intentions, and keeping the discussion going.

Some of the stories of "retrieved" memories are shocking. I show more was particularly moved by the story of Paul Ingram, who started to believe the accusations made against him - if only he could find them in his memory!

An impressive book, very much worth reading. show less

Dr. Loftus is a psychologist who specializes in memory and the impact of trauma, stress and time on it. She travels around the country testifying in trials for the defense and explains how eye witness testimony can be 'altered' by many variables, such as whether there was a weapon present, suggestions planted by the police (accidentally or on purpose), etc.

This book was very disturbing. Dr. Loftus talked about some of the cases that she took part in where the defendant was found guilty show more because of eye witness testimony, even though there was no supporting physical evidence and the defendants had alibi's! Many victims would actually change their descriptions of their attackers by unknowingly following the clues that the police would use while getting their statements. This book really makes you think show less

If you ever believed Orkney, Rochdale, McMartin Pre School, the West Memphis Case read this and try nad look at things from another point of view.