7- Flashbulb Memories Flashcards
What is a flashbulb memory?
A memory of circumstances where people learn of an impactful, emotionally charged event
Why are source events of flashbulb memories inherently public?
Due to there being an informant
What does the vividness and clarity of flashbulb memories make them like?
A ‘snapshot’
Is an event always public?
Yes
How many details are remembered?
Several
Are accounts usually stable over time?
Yes
What type of memory is a flashbulb memory?
Collective memory
What play a big part in flashbulb memories?
Emotions
How did Brown & Kulik operationalise the “flashbulb effect”?
As a memory where participants could answer ‘yes’ to this and content matched 1+ of canonical categories
What are canonical categories?
Type of information frequently reported in news accounts
6 canonical categories
- Place
- Aftermath
- Ongoing activity
- Own affect
- Other affect
- Informant
How does the content of canonical categories vary?
Across individuals
What can canonical categories be?
Idiosyncratic or accidental
4 key features of creating flashbulb memories
- Novelty, unexpectedness
- Consequentiality
- Rehearsals
- Like photographs
How does consequentiality affect creating flashbulb memories?
Considering the consequences to the person themselves and people around that person
How do flashbulb memories differ to a photograph?
They are incomplete
Why aren’t flashbulb memories first-hand?
We are informed of the event rather than experiencing it
What are flashbulb memories and what are they not?
About facts concerning the event- not memories OF events
How do Brown & Kulik suggest that flashbulb memories differ to other autobiographical memories?
They remain unchanged
What is the “ordinary” memory mechanism hypothesis?
Same encoding, storing, and retrieving process involved in flashbulb memories as in other autobiographical memories
What methodology have some studies used?
A test-retest methodology
What 2 processes are involved in a test-retest methodology?
- Recollection immediately after the flashbulb event
- Recollection after a delay
2 ways the flashbulb memories don’t remain unchanged
- Inconsistencies between two recollections emerge
- May be better recalled initially- consistency declines as in other autobiographical memories but confidence remains high
Who investigated phantom flashbulb memories?
Neisser & Harsch
Even though accuracy dropped 2 years later, how was the recall of phantom flashbulb memories?
Very confident
How can flashbulb memories be explained?
By ‘ordinary’ memory mechanisms
What is there debate over regarding formation of flashbulb memories?
What necessary and sufficient factors there are underlying formation
What 3 necessary and sufficient factors are debated regarding the formation of flashbulb memories?
Stability
Rehearsal
Consequentiality
What can flashbulb memories be used to study?
Traumatic memories
What is the amygdala activity observed during flashbulb memories?
It is more active during flashbulb memories
What does the amygdala activity in flashbulb memories suggest?
That flashbulb memories are involved in differential processing
What is learning of a traumatic event different from?
Directly experiencing it
