A flashbulb memory is a vivid, long-lasting memory about a surprising or shocking event.
The term flashbulb memory suggests the surprise, indiscriminate illumination, detail, and brevity of a photograph; however, flashbulb memories are only somewhat indiscriminate and are far from complete. Evidence has shown that although people are highly confident in their memories, the details of the memories can be forgotten.
Flashbulb memories are one type of autobiographical memory. Some researchers believe that there is reason to distinguish flashbulb memories from other types of autobiographical memories because they rely on elements of personal importance, consequence, emotion, and surprise. Others believe that ordinary memories can also be accurate and long-lasting if they are highly distinctive, personally significant, or repeatedly rehearsed.Neisser, U. (1982). "Snapshots or benchmarks", Memory Observed: Remembering in Natural Contexts, ed. 43–48, San Francisco: Freeman
Flashbulb memories have six characteristic features: place, ongoing activity, informant, own affect, other affect, and aftermath. Arguably, the principal determinants of a flashbulb memory are a high level of surprise, a high level of consequentiality, and perhaps emotional arousal.
Historical overview
The term flashbulb memory was coined by Roger Brown and James Kulik in 1977. 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. Brown and Kulik believed that although flashbulb memories are permanent, they are not always accessible from long-term memory. The hypothesis of a special flashbulb-memory mechanism holds that flashbulb memories have special characteristics that are different from those produced by "ordinary" memory mechanisms. The representations created by the special mechanism are detailed, accurate, vivid, and resistant to forgetting. Most of these initial properties of flashbulb memory have been debated since Brown and Kulik first coined the term. Ultimately, over the years, four models of flashbulb memories have emerged to explain the phenomenon: the photographic model, the comprehensive model, the emotional-integrative model, and the importance-driven model, additional studies have been conducted to test the validity of these models.
Positive vs. negative It is possible for both positive and negative events to produce flashbulb memories. When the event is viewed as a positive event, individuals show higher rates of reliving and sensory imagery, and also showed having more live qualities associated with the event. Individuals view these positive events as central to their identities and life stories, resulting in more rehearsal of the event, encoding the memory with more subjective clarity.
On the other hand, events seen as negative by a person have demonstrated having used more detail-oriented, conservative processing strategies. Negative flashbulb memories are more highly unpleasant and can cause a person to avoid reliving the negative event. This avoidance could possibly lead to a reduction of emotionally intense memory. The memory stays intact in an individual who experiences a negative flashbulb memory but has a more toned-down emotional side. With negative flashbulb memories, they are seen to have more consequences.
Flashbulb memories can be produced, but do not need to be, from a positive or negative event. Studies have shown that flashbulb memories may be produced by experiencing a type of brand-related interaction. It was found that brands that are well-differentiated from competitors (for example, Build-A-Bear Workshop versus KB Toys) produced a definitional flashbulb memory, but brands lacking strongly differentiated positioning do not. These "flashbulb brand memories" were viewed very much like conventional flashbulb memories for the features of strength, sharpness, vividness, and intensity.
Methods
Research on flashbulb memories generally shares a common method. Typically, researchers conduct studies immediately following a shocking, public event. Participants are first tested within a few days of the event, answering questions via survey or interview regarding the details and circumstances regarding their personal experience of the event. Then groups of participants are tested for a second time, for example six months, a year, or 18 months later. Generally, participants are divided into groups, each group being tested at different intervals. This method allows researchers to observe the rate of memory decay, the accuracy, and the content of flashbulb memories.
Accuracy
Many researchers feel that flashbulb memories are not accurate enough to be considered their own category of memory. One of the issues is that flashbulb memories may deteriorate over time, just like everyday memories. Also, it has been questioned whether flashbulb memories are substantially different from everyday memories. A number of studies suggest that flashbulb memories are not especially accurate, but that they are experienced with great vividness and confidence. 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. Then, they were randomly assigned to be tested again either 7, 42 or 224 days after the event. The results showed that mean number of consistent inconsistent details recalled did not differ for flashbulb memories and everyday memories, in both cases declining over time. However, ratings of vividness, recollection and belief in the accuracy of memory declined only for everyday memories. These findings further support the claims that "flashbulb memories are not special in their accuracy but only in their perceived accuracy."
Many experimenters question the accuracy of flashbulb memories, but rehearsal of the event is to blame. Errors that are rehearsed through retelling and reliving can become a part of the memory. Because flashbulb memories happen only a single time, there are no opportunities for repeated exposure or correction. Errors that are introduced early on are more likely to remain. Many individuals see these events that create flashbulb memories as very important and want to "never forget", which may result in overconfidence in the accuracy of the flashbulb memory. The most important thing in creating a flashbulb memory is not what occurs at the exact moment of hearing striking news, but rather what occurs after hearing the news. 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.
Such research focuses on identifying reasons why flashbulb memories are more accurate than everyday memories. It has been documented that the importance of an event, the consequences involved, how distinct it is, personal involvement in the event, and proximity increase the accuracy of recall of flashbulb memories.
Stability over time
It has been argued that flashbulb memories are not very stable over time. A study conducted on the recollection of flashbulb memories for the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster sampled two independent groups of subjects on a date close to the disaster, and another eight months later. Very few subjects had flashbulb memories of the disaster after eight months. 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. Another study examining participants' memories of the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion found that although participants were highly confident about their memories of the event, their memories were not very accurate three years after the event had occurred.Neisser, U. & Harsh, N. (1992). "Phantom flashbulbs: False recollections of hearing the news about Challenger", Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies of flashbulb memories, ed. 9–31, New York: Cambridge University Press A third study conducted on the O. J. Simpson murder case found that although participants' confidence in their memories remained strong, the accuracy of their memories declined 15 months after the event, and continued to decline 32 months after the event.
While the accuracy of flashbulb memories may not be stable over time, confidence in the accuracy of a flashbulb memory appears to be stable over time. A study conducted on the bombing in Iraq and a contrasting ordinary event showed no difference for memory accuracy over a year period; however, participants showed greater confidence when remembering the Iraqi bombing than the ordinary event despite no difference in accuracy. Likewise, when memories for the 9/11 World Trade Center attack were contrasted with everyday memories, researchers found that after one year, there was a high, positive correlation between the initial and subsequent recollection of the 9/11 attack. This indicates very good retention, compared to a lower positive correlation for everyday memories. Participants also showed greater confidence in memory at the time of retrieval than the time of encoding.
Relation to autobiographical memory
Some studies indicate that flashbulb memories are not any more accurate than other types of memories. It has been reported that memories of high school graduation or early emotional experiences can be just as vivid and clear as flashbulb memories. Undergraduates recorded their three most vivid autobiographical memories. Nearly all of the memories produced were rated to be of high personal importance, but low national importance. These memories were rated as having the same level of consequentiality and surprise as memories for events of high national importance. This indicates that flashbulb memories may just be a subset of vivid memories and may be the result of a more general phenomenon.
When looking at flashbulb memories and "control memories" (non-flashbulb memories) it has been observed that flashbulb memories are incidentally encoded into one's memory, whereas if one wanted to, a non-flashbulb memory can be intentionally encoded in one's memory. Both of these types of memories have vividness that accompanies the memory, but it was found that for flashbulb memories, the vividness was much higher and never decreases compared to control memories, which in fact did decrease over time.
Flashbulb memory has always been classified as a type of autobiographical memory, which is memory for one's everyday life events. Emotionally neutral autobiographical events, such as a party or a barbecue, were contrasted with emotionally arousing events that were classified as flashbulb memories. Memory for the neutral autobiographical events was not as accurate as the emotionally arousing events of Princess Diana's death and Mother Teresa's death. Therefore, flashbulb memories were more accurately recalled than everyday autobiographical events. In some cases, consistency of flashbulb memories and everyday memories do not differ, as they both decline over time. Ratings of vividness, recollection and belief in the accuracy of memory, however, have been documented to decline only in everyday memories and not flashbulb memories.