The Malleability of Memory

This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Elizabeth Loftus, renowned expert on human memory and Distinguished Professor of Psychological Science; Criminology, Law, and Society; Cognitive Science and Law at UC Irvine. This extensive conversation covers her ground-breaking work on the misinformation effect, false memories and her battles with "repressed memory" advocates, how getting expert memory testimony introduced in legal proceedings and the effect of DNA evidence on convincing judges of the problematic nature of eyewitness testimony. This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, The Benefit of the Doubt, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter: I. Memory, Eventually - From mathematics to yellow birds II. Legal Attraction - A critical lunch leads to the misinformation effect III. Inside the Courtroom - Real witnesses, real cases, real effects IV. The Landscape Shifts - DNA evidence and the winds of change V. Inception - Implanting childhood mall trauma VI. Confirmation - Extensive reproducibility VII. The Temperature Mounts - Jane Doe and the podium defense VIII. Sociological Speculations - How did we get there? IX. Science and Pseudoscience - In search of hard evidence X. Structural Reform - Learning from New Jersey XI. Scanning Memories - Lies, deliberate lies, and statistics XII. Increasing Awareness - From Sesame Street to Sweden About Ideas Roadshow Conversations Series: This book is part of an expanding series of 100+ Ideas Roadshow conversations, each one presenting a wealth of candid insights from a leading expert in a focused yet informal setting to give non-specialists a uniquely accessible window into frontline research and scholarship that wouldn't otherwise be encountered through standard lectures and textbooks. For other books in this series visit our website: https://ideas-on-film.com/ideasroadshow/.