Top 12 Quotes by Elizabeth Loftus

Just because someone thinks they remember something in detail, with confidence and with emotion, does not mean that it actually happened, .. False memories have these characteristics too.

Just because someone thinks they remember something in detail, with confidence and with emotion, does not mean that it actually happened, .. False memories have these characteristics too.

Elizabeth Loftus

Memories, Mean, Thinking

Memory, like liberty, is a fragile thing.

Elizabeth Loftus

Memories, Liberty, Fragile Things

"Memory's Future". Interview with William Calvin, www.psychologytoday.com. March 1, 2001.

In real life, as well as in experiments, people can come to believe things that never really happened.

Elizabeth Loftus

Real, Believe, People

"Eyewitness Testimony". Book by Elizabeth Loftus, 1979.

When we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction.

Elizabeth Loftus

Together, Remember Something, Different

"I Could Have Sworn". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

We all have memories that are malleable and susceptible to being contaminated or supplemented in some way.

Elizabeth Loftus

Memories, Way, Susceptible

"I Could Have Sworn …". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

You can go in there and change it, but so can other people.

Elizabeth Loftus

People

"To Enhance Justice: The Risk and Reward of Studying Memory". thehumanist.com. October 25, 2016.

To be cautious, one should not take high confidence as any absolute guarantee of anything.

Elizabeth Loftus

Guarantees, Should, Cautious

"Eyewitness Testimony". Book by Elizabeth Loftus, 1979.

We can't reliably distinguish true memories from false memories.

Elizabeth Loftus

Memories

"How reliable is your memory?". TED Talk, www.ted.com. June 2013.

My work has made me tolerant of memory mistakes by family and friends. You don't have to call them lies. I think we could be generous and say maybe this is a false memory.

Elizabeth Loftus

Memories, Mistake, Lying

"I Could Have Sworn". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

Without independent corroboration, little can be done to tell a false memory from a true one.

Elizabeth Loftus

Memories, Independent, Done

"I Could Have Sworn". Interview with Alison George, www.slate.com. September 8, 2013.

When we remember something, we're taking bits and pieces of experience - sometimes from different times and places - and bringing it all together to construct what might feel like a recollection but is actually a construction. The process of calling it into conscious awareness can change it, and now you're storing something that's different. We all do this, for example, by inadvertently adopting a story we've heard.

Elizabeth Loftus

Together, Pieces, Might

"Loftus on False and Implanted Memories". Interview with Alison George, www.patheos.com. September 13, 2013.