Flashbulb Memory

Flashbulb memory theory

memories of highly emotional events will be clear, detailed, accurate/as vivid as a photograph/remember all details surrounding the event/special neural mechanism for flashbulb memories (different brain process)

Brown and Kulik

A: whether people have unusually vivid memories of highly emotional events

P: 80 Americans/40 white and 40 African-American/asked to recall assassinations of famous people like JFK/asked to recall memories of an emotional event like the death of a family member

F: nearly all had vivid memories of JFK’s assassination/African-Americans had vivid memories of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination/73/80 had at least one vivid memory of an emotional personal event

C: emotionally intense events are remembered in great detail, clear and accurate

Evaluate Brown and Kulik

• Supports flashbulb memory theory: demonstrates link between emotion and memory

• study could not verify if memories were accurate or not

• memory may be recalled many times so details change over time

Neissar and Harsch

A: accuracy of flashbulb memories

P: within 24 hours of challenger disaster/American psychology students'/survey with 7 questions (where, what, when)/2.5 years later same survey/two responses compared /asked how confident they were from 1 to 5 in their memory

F: significant differences indicating distorted memory/2.95/7 questions answered identically/average confident rating of 4.17

C: flashbulb memories may not always be accurate

Evaluate Neissar and Harsch

• All American university students: low generalisability

• real-life event: high ecological validity

• low personal relevance: more personal flashbulb memories may be more accurate

Phelps

A: which brain regions play a role in flashbulb memory

P: 24 participants/in New York at the time of 9/11/recalled memory of event/brain scanned by fMRI machine/asked to rate how detailed their memories were of the 9/11 attack and other events that summer

F: only participants close to the attack reported detailed memories/people further away were less detailed with memory/participants close to attacks showed increased activity in amygdala during recall (emotion)

C: flashbulb memories are only likely to occur with first-hand experiences/amygdala involved flashbulb memories (strong emotions create vivid memories)

Evaluate Phelps

• Supports flashbulb memory theory: intense emotions linked to detailed memories

• Suggests flashbulb memories are only created for personally relevant events

• Small scale

• Did not verify the accuracy of memories