Flashbulb memory
[2] They formed the special-mechanism hypothesis, which argues for the existence of a special biological memory mechanism that, when triggered by an event exceeding critical levels of surprise and consequentiality, creates a permanent record of the details and circumstances surrounding the experience.
[16][17][18] In a study conducted on September 12, 2001, 54 Duke students were tested for their memory of hearing the terrorist attack and their recall of a recent everyday event.
The role of post-encoding factors such as retelling and reliving is important when trying to understand the increase in remembrance after the event has already taken place.
Considering only the participants who could recall the source of the news, ongoing activity, and place, researchers reported that less than 35% had detailed memories.
It has been suggested that there are "optimal cut points" on flashbulb memory features that can ultimately divide people who can produce them from those who cannot.
[31] It was proposed that the intensity of initial emotional reaction, rather than perceived consequence, is a primary determinant of flashbulb memories.
The death of Pope John Paul II did not come as a surprise but flashbulb memories were still found in individuals who were affected.
Californians' recall of the event were much higher than Atlantans', with the exception of those who had relatives in the affected area, such that they reported being more personally involved.
[16] The death of Pope John Paul II has created many flashbulb memories among people who were more religiously involved with the Catholic Church.
[35] A study (Sharot et al. 2007) conducted on the September 11 attacks demonstrates that proximity plays a part in the accuracy of recall of flashbulb memories.
At the time of the attacks, some participants were in the downtown Manhattan region, closer to the World Trade Center, while others were in Midtown, a few miles away.
[39] Repeated rehearsal of the news in media and between individuals make flashbulb memories more susceptible to misremembering the source of information, thus leading to less recall of true details of the event.
In a study done by Dutch researchers, participants were asked about an event of El Al Boeing 747 crash on apartment buildings in Amsterdam.
Ten months after the accident, participants were asked if they recalled seeing the television film of the moment the plane hit the building.
[40] Being emotionally connected was not enough for older adults to create flashbulbs; they also needed to rehearse the event over the 11 months to remember details.
Tinti et al. (2009) conducted a study on memories of Pope John Paul II's death amongst Polish, Italian, and Swiss Catholics.
For example, Asian cultures tend to de-emphasize individuality; therefore Chinese and Japanese people might not be as affected by the effects of personal involvement on vividness of flashbulb memories.
In terms of flashbulb memories, Chinese participants were less affected by all factors related to personal closeness and involvement with the event.
One such study had participants fill out questionnaires about flashbulb memories and recollections of autobiographical events pertaining to the Senate hearings that confirmed Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court Justice (Morse, 1993).
However, a study aimed at finding whether a series of terrorist attacks with common features elicit flashbulb memories found a different pattern of gender effects.
Graphic images may make an individual associate more with the horror and scale of a tragic event and hence produce a more elaborate encoding mechanism.
[2] The photographic model proposes that in order for a flashbulb account to occur in the presence of a stimulus event, there must be, a high level of surprise, consequentiality, and emotional arousal.
The next step involved in registration of flashbulb accounts is the degree of consequentiality, which in turn, triggers a certain level of emotional arousal.
[2] Further, Brown and Kulik believed that high levels of these variables would also result in frequent rehearsal, being either covert ("always on the mind") or overt (ex.
Finally, affect and rehearsal play major roles in creating associations, thus enabling the individual to remember vivid attributes of the event, such as the people, place, and description of the situation.
Therefore, based on this study, a new model was formed that highlights that consequences play a very large role in the formation of flashbulb memories.
[60] To rephrase, flashbulb memories are described as acute awareness of where a person was and what they were doing when a significant or traumatic event occurred, and are not characterized by strong emotion, while traumatic memories are accompanied by highly negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, and panic when the related event is recalled.
The constancy of flashbulb memories over time varies based on the individual factors related to the arousal response, such as emotional engagement[32][15] and personal involvement with the shocking event.
This is due to the nature of the variables needed for flashbulb memory research: the experience of a surprising event is hard to manipulate.
[citation needed] Also, it is very hard to conduct experiments on flashbulb memories due to lack of control over the events.
