PortraitThe American researcher in cognitive science has demonstrated that the memory of individuals is malleable. The expert has intervened in trials such as that of producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey or the Jeffrey Epstein affair.
The first time we see Elizabeth Loftus, she is sitting in a glass box in the federal court of the Southern District of New York, where the heiress Ghislaine Maxwell is tried, among other things, for sex trafficking of minors within the framework of the Epstein case. We are on December 16, 2021, the first day of defense pleadings. In front of the steps of the court, slogans drawn in felt-tip pen on placards urge to “believe the survivors”.
Wearing round glasses with large black frames, the 77-year-old researcher, professor of cognitive sciences at the University of California at Irvine, is called to testify by the defense as a specialist in human memory. In the American judicial system, we speak of a “blind” expert. (on file): the most influential psychologist of the XXand century – says the Review of General Psychology – is paid 600 dollars (540 euros) per hour to enlighten the jury on the functioning of the brain, not to decide on the charges brought against the defendant.
The appearance begins with a review of his curriculum vitae, Annex EL-1 to the Defense Brief, 47 single-spaced pages spanning five decades of research, awards and accolades. It is about his 600 scientific articles, his seven honorary doctorates, his consultations with the Department of Justice, the CIA, the FBI or even his election to the National Academy of Science, described by the person concerned as “one of the highest honors for an American scientist whose discipline does not have a Nobel Prize”.
“War of Memories”
The expert explains that her work in experimental psychology has helped to bury the conception of memory as ” registration “ events experienced. We now know that memory is not a duplicate, but a dynamic process of reconstruction, even of radical transformation of the original.
Not only this object “malleable” maybe “contaminated” with each recovery, but it becomes more and more “corruptible” with time. Without independent corroboration, it is impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff: studies show that false memories can elicit the same degree of certainty and emotion as real ones.
“Excruciatingly boring” sighs a British reporter. “His research has nothing to do with sexual violence”, adds an American journalist. In the ranks of the press, other dismayed voices list the famous defendants who have consulted or called her to testify during her long career as a legal expert. Producer Harvey Weinstein, American football coach Jerry Sandusky, terrorist Timothy McVeigh and serial killer Ted Bundy. All found guilty of crimes.
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