Flashbulb Memory - ERQ Flashcards
Brown & Kulik aim
Investigate whether people have unusually vivid memories of highly emotional events
Brown & Kulik procedure
Participants in the study were 80 Americans, half of which were white, the other half African-American
Participants were asked to recall assassinations of famous people, like JFK.
They were also asked to recall memories of an emotionally intenseperson
Brown & Kulik results
Nearly all participants had very vivid memories of JFK’s assassination, including where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the news
African-Americans also had vivid memories of the assassination of key civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr, who were important figures in the fight for racial equality
Most participants (73 out of 80) also had at least one exceptionally vivid memory of an emotionally intense personal event, the most common being the death of a parent
What are the criticisms of flashbulb memory theory?
That the memories aren’t more accurate than more memories.
Which researcher criticised flashbulb memory theory?
Neisser
What did Neisser believe?
That people remember certain memories just because of rehearsal.
Study criticising flashbulb memory
Neisser & Harsch
Aim of Neisser & Harsch
Assess the accuracy of flashbulb memories
What did participants do in the 24h of the Challenger disaster in the Neisser & Harsch study?
Filled in a survey with 7 questions regarding where they were, and what they were doing, when they heard the news of the disaster
What did participants do 2.5 years later in the Neisser & Harsch study?
Filled in the same questionnaire again. Participants were also asked how confident they were (on a scale of 1 to 5) in their memory of the event
What did the researchers do with the questionnaires?
Compared them to see how accurate the participants remembered the event over a long period of time.
Evaluation of Brown and Kulik
This study supports the theory of flashbulb memory, demonstrating the link between emotion and memory. African-Americans had a greater emotional response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, hence remembered it better
Although the participants seemed to remember these events clearly and vividly, the study could not verify whether the memories wereaccurate or not
Perhaps people tell the story of JFK’s assassination so many times, hence thememory seems detailed, but perhaps the detailschange over time. People may “fill in” missing details based on their best guess, as schema theory suggests
Results of Neisser & Harsch
For most participants, there were significant discrepancies between the two questionnaires, indicating that memory of the event had become distorted. Out of 7 questions, only an average of 2.95 were answered identically tothe original survey
Despite the poor memory of the event, most participants felt confident that they could remember the Challenger disaster accurately, with an average confidence rating of 4.17
Conclusion of Neisser & Harsch
Although flashbulb memories may seemdetailed and vivid, they may not always be accurate. Even when a person claims to remember an event confidently and in great detail, there is still a good chance their memory is incorrect
Use of fMRI for flashbulb memory
Using fMRI technology, researchers can study whether highly emotional memories activate different parts of the braincompared with less emotional memories.
Phelps aim
Investigate which brain regions play a role in flashbulb memory
Procedure of Phelps
24 participants who were in New York City at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks recalled their memories of the event (and other events of that summer) while having their brain scanned by an fMRI machine
The participants were also asked to rate how detailed and vivid their memories were of the 9/11 attacks and other events of that summer
Results of Phelps
Only participants who werevery closeto the attacks reported very detailed and vivid memories of 9/11. The memoryof those further away from the attacks was less detailed, as were other memories from that summer
Participants who were close to the 9/11 attacks showed increased activity in theamygdalawhen recalling the event. The amygdala is known to be involved in emotion
Conclusion
Flashbulb memories are only likely to occur when witnessing a shocking event first-hand, not merely seeing it from the distance or on the news
The amygdala is involved in flashbulb memories, suggesting that strong emotions result in vivid, detailed memories
Evaluation
This study supports the theory of flashbulb memory, as intense emotions are linked to detailed, vivid memories. Furthermore, the study supports Brown & Kulik’s hypothesis that a special brain mechanism is involved in flashbulb memory
On the other hand, this study suggests that flashbulb memories are only created for personally relevant events which are experienced first hand
This was a small-scale study, only involving 24 participants, so should be replicated with great numbers ofparticipants and for different events
The study did not verify the accuracy of participants’ memories of 9/11
