First proposed in 1977 by psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulik, the term flashbulb memories are described as detailed, persistent, and intense memories of particular situations in which people first hear about unexpected, substantial, and emotionally arousing events (Tinti, Schmidt, Testa, & Levine, 2014). Flashbulb memories are formed when an event produces surprise in a person, brings on an intense emotional reaction, or when the event is important to the person. According to Brown and Kulik these events are automatically encoded into memory (Pillemer, 1990). When first being studied, Brown and Kulik presented that the information in these flashbulb memories fall into categories called canonical categories. These are the categories
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There are similar rates of forgetting for both flashbulb and ordinary memories, but people with flashbulb memories truly believe they are recalling their memories accurately. Flashbulb memories are said to be very accurate and remain in the memory for a long period of time, but it has now been seen that these memories often have many errors and are as susceptible to forgetting as everyday memories. According to Talarico and Rubin (2007), it is the remarkable confidence and phenomenology that differentiates flashbulb memories from everyday memories, not the accuracy of them. Some researchers view flashbulb memories as products of everyday memories. Some evidence has suggested that some details of flashbulb memories are actually remembered, but then some are based off of things that happened after the experience (Lanciano, Curci, & Semin, 2010). Flashbulb memories may not be different than everyday memories when it comes to accuracy, but they are still different in other significant ways. Due to this, there are many studies about flashbulb …show more content…
This article discusses a 10-year longitudinal study on both flashbulb and event memories of the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. The article first talks about what flashbulb memories and event memories are, their characteristics, and background. It then covers a popular topic, flashbulb memories and forgetting. Whether or not flashbulb memories have long-term retention is a big question for researchers interested in this topic. It is stated in this article that emotionally charged public events can lead to long-lasting memories (Hirst, et al., 2015). The authors of this article state how psychologists often use a test-retest method when studying flashbulb memories. They do this to study both errors of omission and errors of commission, which are both, according to the authors of this article, contained in flashbulb memories. They then discuss factors that affect the consistency of flashbulb memories. Some of the factors they discuss are the emotional intensity of the event, the importance or consequences of the event, the distinctiveness of the event, and the level of surprise connected with the event. The authors then go on to say how their study examines retention of
There are similar rates of forgetting for both flashbulb and ordinary memories, but people with flashbulb memories truly believe they are recalling their memories accurately. Flashbulb memories are said to be very accurate and remain in the memory for a long period of time, but it has now been seen that these memories often have many errors and are as susceptible to forgetting as everyday memories. According to Talarico and Rubin (2007), it is the remarkable confidence and phenomenology that differentiates flashbulb memories from everyday memories, not the accuracy of them. Some researchers view flashbulb memories as products of everyday memories. Some evidence has suggested that some details of flashbulb memories are actually remembered, but then some are based off of things that happened after the experience (Lanciano, Curci, & Semin, 2010). Flashbulb memories may not be different than everyday memories when it comes to accuracy, but they are still different in other significant ways. Due to this, there are many studies about flashbulb …show more content…
This article discusses a 10-year longitudinal study on both flashbulb and event memories of the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001. The article first talks about what flashbulb memories and event memories are, their characteristics, and background. It then covers a popular topic, flashbulb memories and forgetting. Whether or not flashbulb memories have long-term retention is a big question for researchers interested in this topic. It is stated in this article that emotionally charged public events can lead to long-lasting memories (Hirst, et al., 2015). The authors of this article state how psychologists often use a test-retest method when studying flashbulb memories. They do this to study both errors of omission and errors of commission, which are both, according to the authors of this article, contained in flashbulb memories. They then discuss factors that affect the consistency of flashbulb memories. Some of the factors they discuss are the emotional intensity of the event, the importance or consequences of the event, the distinctiveness of the event, and the level of surprise connected with the event. The authors then go on to say how their study examines retention of