General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The United States Is Awash in Public Stupidity, and Critical Thought Is Under Assault [View all]AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Alas....they are! The worst evidence.
Why....well, because when one remembers something....one is actually remembering the last remembrance. This is why memories fade and become more unreliable as time goes on.
But mainly it has to do with how we see things.
They did an experiment: A bunch of subjects were shown a film of people in a circle, with numbers on their shirts, throwing a ball to each other. Viewers were asked to remember things like "How many times did #3 catch the ball?" or "How many times did #5 throw to #7?" Then, after viewing, they were given a pop quiz...with questions like above. The last question was "Did you see the gorilla?". Apparently no one did. Then they were shown the film again, and in the middle of it, a guy in a gorilla suit walks out, stands in the middle of the circle and waved at the camera.
So eyewitnesses are not so great.