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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (11620)	4/16/2001 11:08:36 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Yep, it's a good thing. Any trial lawyer who doesn't know her work is deficient. I was fortunate enough to have heard her lecture in person, and I will never forget it. I've never had to use her as an expert witness, but if I had the need, I would grab her in a heartbeat. Loftus is a U of Washington professor who has worked extensively in the area of memory, especially eyewitness observation and testimony. She's both a professor of psychology and an adjunct professor of law -- quite a combo! She has gone FAR beyond the gimmicky but still effective trick of running an unexpected event in a soc. class to prove how unrealiable observation is. (For those who;ve never experienced it, you might have one person run in chasing another, waving a gun, have a brief altercation take place, with the gun going off, have them run out different doors, and then hand out a test to the students asking them to describe each person, what they were wearing, what they did, how long the incident lasted, what they said, etc.) Loftus has done extensive work in created memories. She has proved, for example, that you can create a complete false memory in a person that is indistinguishable from a "real" memory. That is, when they describe the fake incident their brain functions, their physiological reactions, are identical with when they describe something that actually happened to them. Both memories are equally "real." This is especially a danger with young child witnesses, but it can also be done with adults. She has also done a lot of work in the "recovered memory" area, though I'm not as familiar with her work there since I've never had a case that dealt with recovered memory. She knows more about the psychology and physiology of observation and memory than anybody I know. Her work is invaluable for trial lawyers dealing with eyewitness testimony that you have some doubts about or need to get past in order to prevail. Here's her faculty page. faculty.washington.edu Just for an insight into human nature her book "Eyewitness Testimony" is worth reading. An accessible article on her, well worth reading, is: faculty.washington.edu