by Tom Ludwig, Hope College
© 1997, Peregrine Publishers, Inc., All Rights Reserved
We depend on our memories for so many things in life, but sometimes our memories fail us. We get up in the morning and can't remember where we put our keys last night. We go to class and can't remember those French vocabulary words or how to solve the math problems. Worst of all, we go to our psychology exam and can't remember whether Pavlov was the name of the dog or the researcher.
This activity is intended to help you better understand human memory. It's designed to accompany a Scientific American magazine article on memory by Elizabeth Loftus, but the activity will work best if you complete this activity before you read that article.
In this activity, you will play the role of an observer—an eyewitness—who is present when an embarrassing event occurs. After you observe the event, you will be asked some questions about what you remember about the event.
