Hello and welcome to the Origins Podcast. I'm Lawrence Krause. I want to be straight up and say that Elizabeth Loftus is a hero of mine.

First, she's a distinguished cognitive psychologist, a member of the National Academy and the American Philosophical Society,

and she's been president of the American Psychological Society as well. She serves as a distinguished

professor of psychology, law, cognitive science, criminology, and law and society at UC Irvine.

She holds these distinctions because of her groundbreaking work on false

memories, implanted memories, and on eyewitness testimony, and the misinformation involved,

the so-called loftus effect. She's a hero of mine not just because she's discovered all of this,

but because she's applied it and has devoted much of her life, often at great risk

to her own well-being, subjecting herself to personal and professional attacks, by interfacing

with the court system, advising judges and juries, and serving as an expert witness, saving people's

lives who've been falsely accused. She's been involved in many high-profile

cases from the McMartin preschool, DoJ Simpson, Ted Bundy, and the Duke versus lacrosse team.

I wanted to talk to her personally about what got her interested in psychology and what caused

her to reach beyond academia, also about what we know about memory today and what we her to reach beyond academia.

Also about what we know about memory today and what we've learned about eyewitness testimony,

reflecting on the recent events, for example, in the Supreme Court and elsewhere.

Our discussion was interesting and highly relevant to what's going on today.

As always, Patreon subscribers can find the full video of this program immediately at patreon.com slash origins podcast.

I hope you enjoy the show.

Well, Elizabeth, I'm so happy you're here today with me.

We go back a ways, and I've always admired your work tremendously,

and I'm really looking forward to having this conversation about memory, about your experiences,

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