Impact of Emotion on Vivid Memories: Flashbulb Memory, Slides of Cognitive Psychology

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IB Syllabus Says: Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process (i.e. How flashbulb memory theory explains the influence of emotion on memory )

• Originally described by Brown & Kulik

• Exceptionally vivid memories
• Usually of important events with emotional significance
• Resistant to forgetting over time
• Debate centres on whether they are a

special case, or the same as other

memories

These are the aspects that Brown and Kulick (1977) propose are remembered vividly for flashbulb memories:

• Where you were
• What you were doing
• How you were informed
• How you reacted
• How others around you reacted
• They propose that there is a biological

memory mechanism which leads to

these exceptionally vivid memories

• Surveys about dramatic events:
  • Brown & Kulik (1977) found US PPs tended to have vivid memories of political assassinations
  • All PPs good recall of Kennedy, Black PPs better recall of Medgar Evers (civil rights worker)
• Shows importance of relevance of the

information – culture seems to influence things

• Shock, arousal also important

• Challenges to concept of FBM:
  • Neisser & Harsch (1992) compared PPs recall of Challenger disaster after 24 hours and 2 years
  • Found all accounts had changed over time, some were ‘wildly inaccurate’ 40%

• Furthermore, The McCloskey et

al. (1988) study also proposes

that flashbulb memories are not

special memories (see key

study)

• Squire (2000) – recall of OJ Simpson

verdict

100%

50%

0% (^) 1 mo 12 mo 15 mo 3 years

Highly accurate Contained major distortions

Flashbulb memories

• Relatively little evidence for FMBs as a

distinct memory process

• They ‘feel’ accurate (we are confident in

recall) but are just as prone to forgetting

& change as other episodic memories