What is the misinformation effect?

Later information distorts memory of an event

Why does false memory research matter for courts?

Eyewitness errors contribute to wrongful convictions

What is the Mandela effect?

Many people sharing the same false memory

What does research say about confidence and memory accuracy?

Confidence does not guarantee accuracy

Confident memories are always true

Unconfident memories are always false

False Memory Quiz: Loftus Experiments and Mind Tricks

Asking how fast cars smashed rather than hit led witnesses to recall glass that never existed, and this false memory quiz explains Elizabeth Loftus's famous findings. Play an online set of 10 questions on the misinformation effect, the lost in the mall study, word list illusions, eyewitness errors, the Innocence Project and the Mandela effect.

Start False Memory Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Loftus
Which psychologist is best known for false memory research?
Verb
In Loftus and Palmer's 1974 study, which verb produced the highest speed estimates?
Glass
What did people who heard smashed often falsely remember a week later?
Misinformation
What is the misinformation effect?
Mall
What did the lost in the mall study show?
Lists
In word list experiments, people hear bed, rest and tired. Which unheard word do many recall?
Courts
Why does false memory research matter for courts?
Innocence
Which organization uses DNA evidence to free wrongly convicted people?
Mandela
What is the Mandela effect?
Confidence
What does research say about confidence and memory accuracy?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which psychologist is best known for false memory research?
Answer: Elizabeth Loftus
Her studies changed how courts view eyewitness testimony.
Q2: In Loftus and Palmer's 1974 study, which verb produced the highest speed estimates?
Answer: Smashed
The word smashed led to faster estimates and more false memories of broken glass.
Q3: What did people who heard smashed often falsely remember a week later?
Answer: Broken glass
There was no broken glass in the film they had watched.
Q4: What is the misinformation effect?
Answer: Later information distorts memory of an event
Leading questions and new details blend into the original memory.
Q5: What did the lost in the mall study show?
Answer: Some adults came to remember a childhood event that never happened
About a quarter of participants recalled being lost after hearing a false story.
Q6: In word list experiments, people hear bed, rest and tired. Which unheard word do many recall?
Answer: Sleep
The Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm shows how related words create false recall.
Q7: Why does false memory research matter for courts?
Answer: Eyewitness errors contribute to wrongful convictions
Many DNA exonerations involved mistaken eyewitness identification.
Q8: Which organization uses DNA evidence to free wrongly convicted people?
Answer: The Innocence Project
Its cases show how confident witnesses can still be wrong.
Q9: What is the Mandela effect?
Answer: Many people sharing the same false memory
Examples include believing a famous children's book series is spelled differently.
Q10: What does research say about confidence and memory accuracy?
Answer: Confidence does not guarantee accuracy
Repeated retelling can increase confidence even in false details.

False Memory Quiz – How Memory Can Be Rewritten

Memory is not a recording; it is rebuilt each time we recall it. Psychologist Elizabeth Loftus showed how easily memories can change. In a 1974 study with John Palmer, the verb used in a question changed people's speed estimates and led some to remember broken glass that was not there.

This misinformation effect shows that later information can blend into memory. In the lost in the mall study, some adults came to remember a childhood event that never happened. Word list experiments show people recall related words they never heard.

False memories matter in courts, where mistaken eyewitnesses have contributed to wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence. The Mandela effect describes widely shared false memories. Confidence, research shows, is not proof of accuracy.

What This Quiz Teaches

Psychology students and curious readers will enjoy these questions.

What false memories are
Which experiments showed them
How leading questions work
Why courts care
What the Mandela effect is

Did You Know?

Police lineups have changed because of memory research.
Imagining an event can make it feel more familiar.
Sleep helps consolidate memories.
Photos can create false childhood memories.
Loftus has testified as an expert in many trials.