In my previous post I discussed an episodic memory that I re-live almost every night. The memory is of my high school lacrosse championship game. For me this memory is extremely vivid and detailed. So detailed I remember the dream that I had the night before, I remember the people I saw as I walked out onto the field, I remember plays that took place down to the shoe’s one of the other players was wearing. I couldn’t put my finger why this memory was so vivid until reading chapter nine in our text book. This memory is a flashbulb memory.
A flashbulb memory is a “memory for the circumstances surrounding shocking, highly charged events” (Goldstein 214). Think of movies based in older times, someone is giving a speech and you hear that sound of the glass cracking and then see a big bright light popping up. The picture that is taken from that is a vivid memory that cannot be forgotten. This is where the name “flashbulb memory” comes from. Emotion is very highly linked with flashbulb memories. This can explain why many of us have some of the same flashbulb memories. For me another big flashbulb memory that a lot of people also have is the September 11th attacks in 2001. I was in school, in health class and the loud speaker came on. Then the teacher turned on the TV in class to the news. We watched everything happen. We were eventually sent home and I remember almost everything that happened the rest of that day. I can confidently say that a large percentage of people old enough to understand what was going on have a flashbulb memory of it.
Emotions plays a major role in creating flashbulb memories. This can explain my memory of the lacrosse game, I had and still have strong emotions for that specific game and it so it stuck much better. Studies have linked strong emotions to the amygdala when it comes to memory. When patients were show emotionally charged words their amygdala’s were firing at a much higher rate than with non-emotional words. In another study they found that subjects with a healthy amygdala had enhanced memory of an emotional part of a story, while a subject with a damaged amygdala did not have an enhanced memory for the emotional part. It would seem that for our memory to be stronger for something we need to get our amygdala firing.
Looking back on a lot of the extremely vivid memories I have, they were all very emotionally charged. My lacrosse game or games, the 9/11 attacks, the first time I met my girlfriend all had an emotional connection. These flashbulb memories were almost etched into my brain with the sound of that cracking glass on the camera. Now all I have to do is make my studying material for tests emotionally charged and I should have a great memory for my tests.
References
Goldstein, E.B. (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience (4th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
As you mentioned, a flashbulb memory is a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid “snapshot” of the moment and circumstances in which a piece of shocking and significant (or emotionally arousing) news was heard. For myself, an example of a flashbulb memory for me is the day I found out my father passed. I remember the hours leading up to the phone call, what I ate, where I sat and how I responded. Even though it has been 8 years since his death, I still remember it as clearly as if it happened yesterday. I would tell you that I feel confident today in describing this experience and saying it would be completely accurate.
In fact, most people are highly confident about their flashbulb memories. They feel as though all of the details are accurate because they can be so incredibly vivid. However, memories cannot always be entirely trusted. Because of the fact that we can experience false memories, as well as heightened emotions that can alter what we recall, it becomes difficult to weed out the true and untrue memories. The complicated aspect of all of this is that people are not intentionally misleading people when they retell a flashbulb memory; nonetheless, that may be exactly what they are doing. We need to be aware of this overconfidence in our memories, so we can better come to terms with our past experiences.
Christian I can completely relate to the flashbulb memory that you mentioned regarding the 9/11 attacks. I can remember as well exactly where I was when the news about the attacks broke. I, unfortunately, knew people that perished in the 9/11 tragedy. I went to high school with someone who worked for the investment firm, Cantor Fitzgerald that lost more than half of their employees that day. And I live a few houses away from a family that lost their father in the attacks who was the co-pilot of the second plane that hit the second World Trade Center. Evey time I see his wife and kids, who are grown, I have a flashbulb memory of where I was when breaking news interrupted a program that was on a television in a waiting room at a Dr’s office I was at. I remember the confusion of the anchors as they were trying to make sense of an airplane that accidentally hit the first tower. As they were discussing this live on air, a second plane then hit the second tower. There was no mistaking that this was no accident and it was clearly an attack. I still remember the smells of the room that day and the sounds of the phones ringing and the shock and dismay on the peoples faces around me. For me, this is a flashbulb memory that happens every time someone talks about 9/11 tragedy or when the anniversary comes around.