Emotion and Memory = Flashbulb Memory?

Emotion & Memory

Nader's Story
“It was like walking upstream in a river of sorrow,” he says.
Nader has vivid and emotional memories of the September 11, 2001, attacks and their aftermath. But as an expert on memory, and, in particular, on the malleability of memory, he knows better than to fully trust his recollections.
Most people have so-called flashbulb memories of where they were and what they were doing when something momentous happened. But as clear and detailed as these memories feel, psychologists find they are surprisingly inaccurate.
Nader, now a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal, says his memory of the World Trade Center attack has played a few tricks on him. He recalled seeing television footage on September 11 of the first plane hitting the north tower of the World Trade Center. But he was surprised to learn that such footage aired for the first time the following day. Apparently he wasn’t alone: a 2003 study of 569 college students found that 73 percent shared this misperception. His ideas are unconventional within neuroscience, and they have caused researchers to reconsider some of their most basic assumptions about how memory works. In short, Nader believes that the very act of remembering can change our memories. Memories surrounding a major event like September 11 might be especially susceptible, he says, because we tend to replay them over and over in our minds and in conversation with others—with each repetition having the potential to alter them.

BULK & KULIK Study

Aims: To Investigate whether dramatic, or personally significant events can cause "flashbulb" memories

Procedure: Using a retrospective questionnaire assessed the memories of 80 US Ps for the circumstances in which they learned of public events.

Findings: Flash bulb Memory is more likely for unexpected and personally relevant shocking events

Conclusion: Dramatic events can cause a physiological imprinting of a memory of the event

Weakness 1: Data collected through questionnaires, so it is impossible to verify the accuracy of memories reported.

Weakness 2: It could be that dramatic events are rehearsed more than usual, making memories more durable, rather than any "imprinting" process causing FMs