UC Irvine News Brief: Elizabeth Loftus garners AAAS Scientific Freedom & Responsibility Award
The Distinguished Professor of social ecology and professor of law and cognitive science is being honored for “the profound impact that her pioneering research on human memory has had on the administration of justice in the United States and abroad.”
Elizabeth Loftus, Distinguished Professor of social ecology and professor of law and cognitive science, will receive the 2010 Scientific Freedom & Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its 177th annual meeting Saturday, Feb. 19, in Washington, D.C. The association is honoring Loftus for “the profound impact that her pioneering research on human memory has had on the administration of justice in the United States and abroad.” Loftus, who has testified at more than 200 civil and criminal trials, has demonstrated that memories can be implanted or manipulated through a variety of means. Her work has been vindicated by the finding – based on the more than 250 U.S. prisoners freed after subsequent DNA analysis – that the most common reason for wrongful conviction is faulty eyewitness testimony.