Historical Revision: Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, Controversial Expert on Human Memory

By Caroline Song

Professor Elizabeth Loftus holds the title of distinguished professor of psychology, social behavior, criminology, law and society at U.C. Irvine and has recently been nationally recognized for her findings in a study that proves memories could not only be distorted, but also completely reconstructed. Professor Loftus is considered an expert in the medium of memory research and is the author of nineteen books, has lectured all over the world, and has testified in over two hundred court cases in which she testified about her skepticism of the repressed memory theory. Loftus evokes intense criticism because she testifies on the side of the defense, and as a result there is a chance that she may be helping to free guilty perpetrators.

The study in which Dr. Loftus proved impossible memories could be constructed is known as the Bugs Bunny study. In this study the subjects were asked to examine three advertisements that had a pictures of Bugs Bunny standing next to the magic castle at Disneyland. They were then asked to recall any memories at Disneyland that included meeting Bugs Bunny. 36% of the subjects recalled meeting Bugs Bunny and some included specific sensory details such as shaking his hand and touching his fur. The 36% of subjects who say they do remember meeting Bugs Bunny prove Loftus’ theory that memories not only can be distorted, but completely made up. It is impossible to meet Bugs Bunny at Disneyland because Bugs is a Warner Bros. Character.

When asked what prompted her to do the Bugs Bunny study, Professor Loftus said, "We often get criticism that maybe what our techniques are doing are reviving a real memory instead of planting a false one. We had to come up with something impossible. […] We know that when our subjects are now telling us they remember Bugs, it’d have to be a false memory. […] For years I’ve been doing studies where we distort people’s memories in crimes and accidents and other simulated events that they witness, […] but in the 90’s we wanted to see whether we could plant wholly false memories. Not just a distorted memory here or there, but a complete false memory. […] And this newer study shows you that when you get a false memory going, people can be really detailed about it." When asked if it was the false advertisement that may have prompted the subjects to recall this false memory, Loftus said, "Yes, I think it was the visual presentation of the ad with Bugs at Disney. Essentially it was telling people that it was plausible. That Bugs could have been there. And that is the first step down the road to developing a false memory."

The results of this study show how unreliable a memory can be. The unreliability of memories can cause problems when they are relied upon during court cases in which people testify according to what they remember. When asked if eyewitness testimony, should not be used in a trial, Loftus says," I don’t think they’re useless because we have to rely on eyewitness testimony to catch guilty people. The problem is that eyewitness testimony of faulty memory is the major cause of wrongful conviction. So we just have to be more careful in how we evaluate it. And not just believe every single claim because it’s detailed."