Memory is a significant part of everyday life. There are different types of memory for different situations. When a person goes through a shocking experience they tend to have a flashbulb memory. This is something I personally experienced on the day of 9/11. Throughout America, especially New York, this is a day in history that will forever be imprinted into our memories.
There seems to be a link between emotions and memories. The more emotional a memory is the easier it is to recall. The connection between the two seems to stem from the amygdala. This part of the brain is part of the limbic system. The amygdala is associated with memory performance and with emotional events (Goldstein, 2011).
One type of memory that has been researched is the flashbulb memory. According to our class lessons, flashbulb memories are highly detailed, vivid memories for significant and highly emotional charged events (Goldstein, 2011). This is a type of memory that everyone experiences. Examples of these memories could be the birth of a child or the death of someone close to you. In past generations the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. or the attack on Pearl Harbor would all be examples of flashbulb memories for people living at that time.
In my lifetime a flashbulb memory I experienced was on September 11, 2001. This day is a flashbulb memory for most Americans. When thinking about the World Trade Center attacks the first thing that pops into my mind is me sitting in my technology class in seventh grade. The teacher ran in and put on the television and we all sat and watched the news report that stated what was happening in the city. I remember students becoming upset, many of their parents worked in the city. Even after twelve years a bright memory pops into my head when thinking about it. My family was very fortunate and did not lose any one we knew, but that does not dull the memory.
Flashbulb memories are a part of life for everyone. Whether it’s a joyful experience like the birth of a child, or the tragic experience like the attack on the World Trade Center. These emotions are what make the memories so vivid in our mind. They also make us remember the event clearly even as years pass.
Goldstein, E. Bruce. “Chapter 5 Short-Term and Working Memory.” Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. 208-209. Print.
Flashbulb memory is a pretty interesting and popular topic with many Cognitive Psychology students, and as seen in your blog, what makes it so interesting is when you can compare your memories against evidence to see how accurate the details are.
I started searching the Internet for more case studies on these memories that appear to leave a snapshot in our mind after a dramatic event. There seems to be an abundance of published articles on people’s flashbulb memories, especially of famous assassinations, such as President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and, John Lennon (Ghose, 2013), and tragic events such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Challenger explosion and the Holocaust. But perhaps one of the more interesting articles I found involved Pearl Harbor and Ulric Neisser.
Ulric “Dick” Neisser is considered the “Father of Cognitive Science,” (Hyman, 2012) even though he preferred to be known as “the godfather who named it.” (Lindzey and G.M. Runyan, 2007). Neisser(1928 -2012) had a flashbulb memory of when he was 13 years old and heard the radio news report of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
According to Neisser’s report, the attack happened just a day before his 13th birthday when he was listening to a baseball game. Years later, when Neisser related his memories of hearing about the Pearl Harbor attack, he learned that it could not have been a baseball game since it was December; it must have been a football game instead. For many years he pondered his mistake since he considered himself a die-hard baseball fan. (Lindzey, 2007)
Neisser was extremely interested in the part perception played in eyewitness memories and decided to research “a famously accurate witness” – John Dean, who served as an adviser to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate era. Apparently Dean’s recollections of conversations with President Nixon were filled with numerous and elaborate details and Dean soon earned the title of “the human tape recorder.” But later when real tape recordings of these conversations surfaced and transcripts were available, Dean’s credibility was called into question. Neisser compared Dean’s accounts and the transcripts and found that Dean’s recollections were inaccurate in the details given, but were true to the extent of what Dean said the President knew about the Watergate cover-up. Neisser called this “repisodic” (Lindzey, 2007) since it was not flashbulb memory and appeared to be more than episodic memory, which are memories of experiences and specific events as they happened (Maston, 2010).
The term “repisodic” never caught on, even though “flashbulb memory” remains; but it was Neisser’s attempt to explain that Dean’s highly detailed recollections were inaccurate in context, but were correct in proving that President Nixon was indeed dishonest when he claimed he had no knowledge of the events surrounding Watergate.
References:
Ghose, Tia. (2013). 8 Most Famous Assassinations in History. Retrieved from
http://news.discovery.com/history/8-most-famous-assassinations-in-history-131122.htm
Hyman, Ira. (2012). Remembering the Father of Cognitive Psychology: Ulric Neisser. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2012/may-june-12/remembering-the-father-of-cognitive-psychology.html
Lindzey, G. and Runyan, W.M. (Eds). (2007). Ulric Neisser. A history of psychology in autobiography, Vol. 9, pp. 269-301. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved from
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CGMQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeople.psych.cornell.edu%2F~jec7%2Fpcd%2520pubs%2Fneisserauto.pdf&ei=IVaaUsTmFMqokQf3g4DgDg&usg=AFQjCNE4exhR6jjrxOQrLIkiPmOAUCm0tA&sig2=Vfh4qnYaYhsg6fwVtfSoNQ&bvm=bv.57155469,d.eW0
Mastin, Luke. (2010). Episodic & Semantic Memory. The Human Memory: What It Is, How It Works, And How It Can Go Wrong http://www.human-memory.net/types_episodic.html
Flashbulb memory is a pretty interesting and popular topic with many Cognitive Psychology students, and as seen in your blog, what makes it so interesting is when you can compare your memories against evidence to see how accurate the details are.
I started searching the Internet for more case studies on these memories that appear to leave a snapshot in our mind after a dramatic event. There seems to be an abundance of published articles on people’s flashbulb memories, especially of famous assassinations, such as President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and, John Lennon (Ghose, 2013), and tragic events such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Challenger explosion and the Holocaust. But perhaps one of the more interesting articles I found involved Pearl Harbor and Ulric Neisser.
Ulric “Dick” Neisser is considered the “Father of Cognitive Science,” (Hyman, 2012) even though he preferred to be known as “the godfather who named it.” (Lindzey and G.M. Runyan, 2007). Neisser(1928 -2012) had a flashbulb memory of when he was 13 years old and heard the radio news report of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
According to Neisser’s report, the attack happened just a day before his 13th birthday when he was listening to a baseball game. Years later, when Neisser related his memories of hearing about the Pearl Harbor attack, he learned that it could not have been a baseball game since it was December; it must have been a football game instead. For many years he pondered his mistake since he considered himself a die-hard baseball fan. (Lindzey, 2007)
Neisser was extremely interested in the part perception played in eyewitness memories and decided to research “a famously accurate witness” – John Dean, who served as an adviser to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate era. Apparently Dean’s recollections of conversations with President Nixon were filled with numerous and elaborate details and Dean soon earned the title of “the human tape recorder.” But later when real tape recordings of these conversations surfaced and transcripts were available, Dean’s credibility was called into question. Neisser compared Dean’s accounts and the transcripts and found that Dean’s recollections were inaccurate in the details given, but were true to the extent of what Dean said the President knew about the Watergate cover-up. Neisser called this “repisodic” (Lindzey, 2007) since it was not flashbulb memory and appeared to be more than episodic memory, which are memories of experiences and specific events as they happened (Maston, 2010).
The term “repisodic” never caught on, even though “flashbulb memory” remains; but it was Neisser’s attempt to explain that Dean’s highly detailed recollections were inaccurate in context, but were correct in proving that President Nixon was indeed dishonest when he claimed he had no knowledge of the events surrounding Watergate.
References:
Ghose, Tia. (2013). 8 Most Famous Assassinations in History. Retrieved from
http://news.discovery.com/history/8-most-famous-assassinations-in-history-131122.htm
Hyman, Ira. (2012). Remembering the Father of Cognitive Psychology: Ulric Neisser. Retrieved from
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2012/may-june-12/remembering-the-father-of-cognitive-psychology.html
Lindzey, G. and Runyan, W.M. (Eds). (2007). Ulric Neisser. A history of psychology in autobiography, Vol. 9, pp. 269-301. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved from
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CGMQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeople.psych.cornell.edu%2F~jec7%2Fpcd%2520pubs%2Fneisserauto.pdf&ei=IVaaUsTmFMqokQf3g4DgDg&usg=AFQjCNE4exhR6jjrxOQrLIkiPmOAUCm0tA&sig2=Vfh4qnYaYhsg6fwVtfSoNQ&bvm=bv.57155469,d.eW0
Mastin, Luke. (2010). Episodic & Semantic Memory. The Human Memory: What It Is, How It Works, And How It Can Go Wrong http://www.human-memory.net/types_episodic.html
Great Post! I too have had flash bulb memories of 9/11. And during that time I was living in Seaside Heights (before the Jersey Shore cast took over). I remember thinking if my father was ok (my dad lives in Queens but commutes to Manhattan for work). Thank goodness he was ok but I agree that the more intense a memory is the more likely one is to remember it.
Some of my best and worst memories are from times when I had extreme emotional experiences such as the birth of my daughter. I have two daughters but I remember my youngest not because it was most recent but because of the emotions I experienced. I never made it to the birthing room but I made it to the infant wing floor which was a bit traumatizing. I’ll never forget that flashbulb experience!
Great Post! I too have had flash bulb memories of 9/11. And during that time I was living in Seaside Heights (before the Jersey Shore cast took over). I remember thinking if my father was ok (my dad lives in Queens but commutes to Manhattan for work). Thank goodness he was ok but I agree that the more intense a memory is the more likely one is to remember it.
Some of my best and worst memories are from times when I had extreme emotional experiences such as the birth of my daughter. I have two daughters but I remember my youngest not because it was most recent but because of the emotions I experienced. I never made it to the birthing room but I made it to the infant wing floor which was a bit traumatizing. I’ll never forget that flashbulb experience!