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             Interaction between language and memory is an article written by Lotus and Palmer. The article is talking about a research that was carried out concerning reconstruction of automobile destruction. The main idea in the experiment was to observe how accurately individuals remember the details surrounding complex events (Abelson, Gregg & Frey, 2014). The inaccuracy is greatly evident when the question involves numerical details, such as how fast the vehicle was moving and how long the accident took place. Most people end up over estimating the duration of an accident. This is why there is always a huge variation in the evidence given by the witnesses.

            From the research, it has been seen that how the question is framed determines the answer likely to be given by the subjects. Introduction of verbs in the questions reduced the extent of variation. Examples of verbs in this case are smashed, hit, collided, and bumped. Apart from the verbs, the way the questions are answered also varies with time. Subjects will give a yes answer when asked the question after a week. This is seen from the statement below. “On a retest one week later, those subjects who received the verb smashedwere more likely to say “yes” to the question, “Did you see any broken glass?”, even though broken glass was not present in the film” (Parker, 2013, p. 141).

            Two different types of information enter into a person’s memory concerning a complex event. The first information comes from perception of the original event, and then the second one comes out of the fact. “The label, smash, causes a shift in the memory representation of the accident in the direction of being more similar to a representation suggested by the verbal label” (Abelson et al, 2014, p. 312).

References

Abelson, R. P., Gregg, A., & Frey, K. P. (2014). Experiments with people: Revelations from

 social psychology. London, UK: Psychology Press.

Parker, I. (2013). The Crisis in Modern Social Psychology-: And how to End it. London, UK:

            Routledge.