Remembering Memory

Hilary McDermot, a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Loughborough, gave the AS Level Psychology students a talk on memory and eye witness testimony.  This is the topic that the students have been covering this half term.  The lecture was very interactive and Hilary got the students to contribute what they already knew about memory, which was useful revision.  It's great to remember things about memory, but not so good to forget things about amnesia.

 

There were also some memory experiments during the talk, and an activity on eye witness testimony where students watched a video of a shop being robbed and then had to pair up with someone to do an activity relating to this.  One person was the police officer and the other a witness.  The purpose was to look at the effect of leading questions (and also to see how observant people are!!) The results were fascinating, and shed light on how flimsy eye-witness testimony can actually be sometimes.

Students who attended said that the lecture was very useful and enjoyable.  They also appreciated the opportunity to have a look around the university grounds and sit in a university lecture theatre.  It was great to see lots of students volunteering contributions and answering Hilary’s questions.  We gave a really positive impression of the Sixth Form at Loughborough College.  Overall, a positive experience for everyone!