Research as it Happens

Research as it Happens — Special Live EpisodeOpening Up Science: Perspectives from the Global SouthFor this special episode of Research as it Happens, recorded live on October 6, 2026, during the Big Team Science Conference (BTSCon), we step away from the ongoing replication project to explore Open Science and Big Team Science from the perspectives of two early-career researchers.Ana Carolina Marinho, a PhD researcher in Brazil, discusses the challenges of practicing Open Science in the Global South. From limited funding and precarious working conditions to the often invisible labour involved in large collaborations, she raises important questions about who gets to participate in science and whose contributions receive recognition.Dr. Samiul Hossain, a researcher originally from Bangladesh who now works in Australia, brings a different perspective. Drawing on his experiences across countries and in initiatives such as the Psychological Science Accelerator, he discusses the limitations of research conducted primarily with Western populations, the challenges of international collaboration, and what it would take to make psychological science genuinely global.Together, the conversations raise a broader question: Is Open Science simply about making research more transparent and reproducible, or should it also change who gets to conduct research, set the agenda, and benefit from scientific progress?The episode concludes with questions from the conference audience and reflections on what these perspectives mean for Big Team Science.Guests: Ana Carolina Marinho and Samiul HossainHost: Rolf ZwaanRecorded live at: Big Team Science Conference (BTSCon)Music written and performed by Rolf Zwaan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With 71 participating laboratories, our project has grown beyond a single replication. In this episode of Research as it Happens, we reach an important milestone: the selection of a second experimental paradigm to study the misinformation effect.The paradigm comes from the classic 1978 study by Elizabeth Loftus, Miller, and Burns. Unlike the Loftus and Palmer (1974) experiment, this paradigm has been replicated many times and provides a robust foundation for investigating why the misinformation effect occurs, not just whether it occurs.To explore this paradigm, Rolf talks with Sera Wiechert (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Freiburg, Germany), a legal psychologist whose recent work has replicated and extended the original 1978 study. Together they discuss the differences between the 1974 and 1978 paradigms, the practical challenges of reconstructing classic experiments, and what these studies can teach us about the mechanisms underlying memory distortion.The conversation also explores the complementary perspectives of cognitive psychology and legal psychology, the value of replication in applied research, and how large international collaborations make it possible to ask questions that individual laboratories often cannot.ReferenceWiechert, S., Verschueren, A., Ben-Shakhar, G., Pertzov, Y., Loftus, E. F., & Verschuere, B. (2026). The misinformation effect: A contemporary replication and extension of Loftus et al. (1978) to investigate its underlying mechanisms. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition, 52(7), 1225–1241. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001529About the ProjectResearch as it Happens follows a large international collaboration investigating the misinformation effect—the phenomenon that information encountered after an event can influence how that event is remembered.The project currently brings together researchers from 71 laboratories across multiple countries and languages. Rather than focusing only on whether classic findings replicate, the collaboration also aims to use these paradigms to answer new theoretical questions about human memory.Music written and performed by Rolf Zwaan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you replicate a classic experiment when the original materials no longer exist?In this episode of Research as it Happens, Rolf Zwaan talks with Anita Eerland (Radboud University Nijmegen), who leads the visual stimuli team for the project's replication of the famous Loftus and Palmer (1974) study.At first glance, the task seems straightforward: find a suitable traffic accident video. But as the conversation reveals, reconstructing a classic experiment raises a surprising number of questions. What begins as a discussion about finding a crash video gradually becomes a conversation about a deeper question: what exactly are we trying to replicate? The original materials, or the psychological experience they were designed to create?Music written and performed by Rolf ZwaanComment or question? Send an email: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the previous episode, Elizabeth Loftus reminded us that a single word can influence what people remember. In this episode, we take a deep dive into language and translation.The conversation begins with Steven Verheyen (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands), who leads the translation effort in our international replication project. We discuss the practical challenges of translating research materials into multiple languages, but also the deeper theoretical questions that emerge in the process. How do you translate words such as hit and smashed? Are we translating words, meanings, or psychological effects? And why should translation be viewed as a genuine scientific contribution rather than a purely technical task?In the second half of the episode, Rolf talks with linguist Maha Godoy (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil). Together they discuss the Loftus and Palmer study from a linguistic perspective and explore what language can tell us about the mechanisms underlying the misinformation effect. The conversation also turns to the experience of conducting research in Brazil and the similarities and differences between scientific cultures across countries.A recurring theme throughout the episode is that language is not merely a vehicle for communicating research. In a study like Loftus and Palmer, language is part of the phenomenon itself. If a single word can influence memory, then translating that word becomes a scientific challenge in its own right.As the project expands across countries and languages, questions that initially seem practical often reveal deeper theoretical issues. In that sense, translation is not simply something that happens before the research begins—it is one of the ways we learn from the research itself.Further readingOn translation in big team science projects: translation – Psychological Science Accelerator.On crediting translators:  Contributors | FORRT - Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training.On iconicity in language:  Winter, B., Woodin, G., & Perlman, M. (preprint). Defining Iconicity for the Cognitive Sciences. Music written and played by Rolf Zwaan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Research as it Happens, Rolf Zwaan talks with Elizabeth Loftus (University of California, Irvine) about one of the most influential experiments in cognitive psychology: the 1974 Loftus & Palmer study on memory and misinformation.Loftus reflects on how the original study emerged partly by chance—from a lunch conversation with her lawyer cousin and a growing desire to work on questions with clearer real-world relevance. What followed became a landmark demonstration that the wording of a question can influence what people later report remembering.In the conversation, we explore:how the original experiments were designed and conducted,what happens to the original memory after misinformation is introduced,whether the effect reflects overwriting, retrieval interference, or source-monitoring problems,and how this line of work reshaped theories of memory.We also discuss the current large-scale replication project inspired by the original studies. What aspects of the classic experiment should remain unchanged? Which elements can be modernized? Does it matter if participants watch digital videos on computers rather than projected film clips? Could culturally different vehicles—such as scooters instead of cars—produce similar effects?The episode also touches on a broader issue in replication research: how revisiting classic findings can become more than an attempt to reproduce an effect. Large collaborative projects may also provide opportunities to test alternative explanations and extend the original work in new directions.More than fifty years after the original experiment, the central question remains remarkably current:How much of what we remember is shaped by what happened afterward?Music written and played by Rolf ZwaanFurther reading:Website Elizabeth Loftus: https://www.law.uci.edu/faculty/full-time/loftus/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.