I am running an experiment where i need to manipulate variables related to this concept that can be implemented to participants in a classroom/lab. So i am looking for ways in which it can be executed, without much logistical procedures, which are otherwise involved in the field experiments of eyewitness memory.
@Neveen: The concept is definitely related to criminal psychology. However, i wish to apply the procedure in a classroom setting.
An experimental paradigm that you could replicate in the classroom are Elizabeth Loftus' "leading question" studies:
Title: LEADING QUESTIONS AND EYEWITNESS REPORT
Author(s): LOFTUS, EF
Source: COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Volume: 7 Issue: 4 Pages: 560-572
DOI: 10.1016/0010-0285(75)90023-7 Published: 1975
She has shown that questions asked immediately after an event that participants have witnessed (in a video), which contain preuppositions about an object that either was or was not shown (e.g., participants watch a traffic accident and are then asked "Did you see the stop sign?"), will influence answers to questions asked later. For example, participants who have not seen a stop sign will be more likely to report that there was a stop sign if a question had mentioned it.
You could probably use this in a classroom setting by showing a video to the class and then distribute written questions that may represent different experimental conditions. Later (e.g., at the end of class or in the next session) you ask students to report the incident they have watched.
@Gerd: Thanks a lot. That is of great help. Also this experiment has an interesting dimension where they manipulated the choice of verbs used (smashed, collided, hit, contacted) which influenced the subjects perceptions of the speed of the car. Its really fascinating to see what induction of misinformation can do to us humans!
True. There are also several studies on person recognition in natural settings that you could mimick in order to show how poor eyewitness testimony can be. For example, ask a stranger to make a brief and unexpected appearance during a class session. When the stranger has left, ask your students to identify him or her in a lineup of photographs. It is often surprising to students how many of them get it wrong on such a seemingly easy test. (There are published papers on this, but I can't recall the authors.)
"For example, ask a stranger to make a brief and unexpected appearance during a class session. When the stranger has left, ask your students to identify him or her in a lineup of photographs."
If you want to increase the false positives, show one of the faces in your line up at some other point in your presentation. If you give a PowerPoint presentation from a laptop, you could make make that face the screen saver that your students see before you start the class.
@Robert: That is a good way to induce misinformation. This also primes me to thinking about Proactive Inhibition where in old information interferes with the retention of new memories. So the showcasing of one of the faces as the screensaver could interfere with their memories later when they would have to identify the culprit.