When Loftus and Palmer asked observers of a filmed car accident how fast the vehicles were going when they "smashed" into each other rather than "hit" or "contacted" each other, the observers developed memories of the accident that .

d. portrayed the event as more serious than it actually had been.

Explanation:

Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer made a study in 1974. to see how language and its effect can alter the memory.

They played a few movies of a traffic accident to the participants in the study. After watching the movies in the random order, the subjects were asked to describe what they have just seen, but each was asked a specific question. They were all asked how fast the cars were going, and the context of the crash was altered. Wording that varied was

Depending on the wording, the crash and speed were described differently.

Those who were told that card contacted said they were going the slowest, around 30 miles per hour.

Those who were told that cars smashed described them as going over 40 miles per hour, and observed the accident as more serious than it actually was.

The study confirmed that wording from the outside sources can impact the memory, even if we witnessed it on our own.