Flashbulb Memory - ERQ

Question 1

Brown & Kulik aim

Answer 1

Investigate whether people have unusually vivid memories of highly emotional events

Question 2

Brown & Kulik procedure

Answer 2

Participants in the study were 80 Americans, half of which were white, the other half African-American
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Participants were asked to recall assassinations of famous people, like JFK.
They were also asked to recall memories of an emotionally intenseperson

Question 3

Brown & Kulik results

Answer 3

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
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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
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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

Question 4

What are the criticisms of flashbulb memory theory?

Answer 4

That the memories aren’t more accurate than more memories.

Question 5

Which researcher criticised flashbulb memory theory?

Answer 5

Neisser

Question 6

What did Neisser believe?

Answer 6

That people remember certain memories just because of rehearsal.

Question 7

Study criticising flashbulb memory

Answer 7

Neisser & Harsch

Question 8

Aim of Neisser & Harsch

Answer 8

Assess the accuracy of flashbulb memories

Question 9

What did participants do in the 24h of the Challenger disaster in the Neisser & Harsch study?

Answer 9

​Filled in a survey with 7 questions regarding where they were, and what they were doing, when they heard the news of the disaster

Question 10

What did participants do 2.5 years later in the Neisser & Harsch study?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What did the researchers do with the questionnaires?

Answer 11

Compared them to see how accurate the participants remembered the event over a long period of time.

Question 12

Evaluation of Brown and Kulik

Answer 12

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
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Although the participants seemed to remember these events clearly and vividly, the study could not verify whether the memories wereaccurate or not
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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

Question 13

Results of Neisser & Harsch

Answer 13

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
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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

Question 14

Conclusion of Neisser & Harsch

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Use of fMRI for flashbulb memory

Answer 15

Using fMRI technology, researchers can study whether highly emotional memories activate different parts of the braincompared with less emotional memories.

Question 16

Phelps aim

Answer 16

Investigate which brain regions play a role in flashbulb memory

Question 17

Procedure of Phelps

Answer 17

​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
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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

Question 18

Results of Phelps

Answer 18

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
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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

Question 19

Conclusion

Answer 19

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
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The amygdala is involved in flashbulb memories, suggesting that strong emotions result in vivid, detailed memories

Question 20

Evaluation

Answer 20

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
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On the other hand, this study suggests that flashbulb memories are only created for personally relevant events which are experienced first hand
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This was a small-scale study, only involving 24 participants, so should be replicated with great numbers ofparticipants and for different events
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The study did not verify the accuracy of participants’ memories of 9/11