Event Recall 2020

Each year I do this activity to test eyewitness testimony and the reconstructive nature of memory. On Feb 4th at the beginning of class I had two accompices help with this, one was sitting at the back of the lecture hall and the other was sitting near the front.

At the arranged time the one in front came up to me to "distract" me by asking about the quiz that we had just had. Meanwhile the otherone came down from the back of the room to steal the brain off my desk and exit through the doors to the right as you are sitting in class. A week late I read some questions about the event. As usual these question became incorprated into the memories of many of the eyewitness to the crime.

Typically I ask students in class to complete a survey of what had happened and i get 80 to 100 response. This time with no regular class I got 7 reponses. This speaks to the challenges of getting witnesses to come forward. Below are the responses that I got from people inthe class and these reports are followed by a line up of the Theif and accomplices. Can you identify them? Following that I will discuss the misleading questions, as was the case in Elizabeth Loftus' work followed by a video of the actual theft.

 

  1. I only remember that he had dark hair. I didn’t get a good look at him because he was actually sitting right beside me, so I never saw his face!
  2. at the beginning of a lecture some time ago there was an "event" that occurred. I was quite focussed on the discussion you were having with a female at the front left of the lecture hall, thinking "oh no, she missed the midterm" and "why is she talking to him about this right now?". I remember seeing the model brain sitting up there on the podium. The female you were talking to was attractive, with dark hair and glasses, probably 25 years old. My involvement with the conversation you 2 were having completely distracted me from anything going on in the front right side of the room in my periphery. Before I knew it, the doors of the right side were slamming closed and reactions of people around me were startled, the brain was gone. I have zero recollection of the thief, zero. It's the weirdest thing. For me its like the brain vanished into thin air. 
  3. I recall seeing someone ask you a really dumb question about the midterm or something like that, and it seemed like this person (girl) was trying to distract you.  Then someone took the skull and ran away (in a hat).  I ended up running after them and they casually walked away (I think it was them?).  That’s all I can recall! 
  4. A girl came up to you after you mentioned our midterm and said something like "what we had a midterm?!" and then you two had a little conversation about the midterm and her needing to make it up. Then I remember hearing the door open and close on the other side of the room and you yelling something about the brain being gone and then the girl you had been talking to ran out of the room. I didn't even see the person who stole the brain because I was so concentrated on the conversation you had been having with the other girl because I could not believe she would come up in the middle of your lecture in front of everyone to say she didn't know we had had a midterm. |
    That's all I can remember; I can't recall any specific details about what the people looked like or what they specifically said.
  5. I was not present in class on the evening of the event, although I do recall you discussing it the next class and so on. Is there anything I am able to do in place of that or any way to obtain some information on it? 

  6. This is what I remember from the day the brain was stolen:
    1. It was a male who stole the brain
    2. I'm pretty sure he was wearing black or at least darker coloured clothes
    3. I don't recall what exactly he said but he did yell out something as he took the brain and left
    4. He exited through the right-hand bottom door (right from our perspective)
    That's about it, it has been too long that I have forgotten all the details.
  7. What I remember from the brain stealing:
    8. On the night of the "event", I recall sitting directly behind the person who ran up and stole your brain. He had glasses and I think he was wearing a baseball cap. I remember watching him pack up his backpack, slowly get up from his chair and take steps down the stairs before he started sprinting with the brain in his hands. I also recall some people attempting to go after him including you. After the stealing, you explained how you would deal with this later and moved on with the lecture. This was the last time we talked about the "event" until now.

 

Here are the questions I asked:

What team logo was on the cap worn by the thief?
(this was misleading as he did not wear a cap)

What ethnicity was this person?
(a legitimate question)

What kind of bling was the gansta wearing?
(Distractor-in t he past people report a gold necklace)

What colour was the leather jacket worn?
(Again misleading not leather - often people report a black leather jacket)

What did the thief say when leaving the room?
(Misleading he said nothing - often people report him saying something)

What colour were the running shoes worn?
(a legitimate question this time, last year he work hiking boots)

 

Do you recognize any of these people?

A1 A2 A3 A4

T1 T2 T3


T4 T5

 

T6 T7 T8 T9 T10

the video (@ 1:30)

The actual accomplice and the actual theif no one recalled the troll being left behind