What Is A Flashbulb Memory?
Memories often exist in our minds in a state of haze that increases as time passes. We may remember our first-grade teacher’s name, but not the outfits she wore on any given day. We may remember that a kind nurse helped us after an accident, but we might not remember how his hair looked. This lack of detail is standard.
But there are memories that stand out to us in stark detail. We might remember exactly what our dog’s bark sounded like when we first brought them home, or what our children looked like on the day they were born, down to every little finger or toe. These memories, called flashbulb memories, can be both negative and positive, and can have varying impacts on our current lives.
What is a flashbulb memory?
A flashbulb memory is a stable, detailed “snapshot” memory that can remain salient for a long time. Typically, these memories develop in response to significant events with heightened emotion, shock, and personal and/or communal impact, such as the birth of your child, or a car crash.
Flashbulb memories may trigger specific memories from the time of an event, such as smells, weather, or sounds that may or may not be entirely accurate.
How flashbulb memories form
The formation of flashbulb memories explains why, decades later, many people can think back to where they were on the day of 9/11, or what they were doing the day their child was born. Strong emotions tend to make memories easier to recall, possibly because the amygdala is tied to both emotions and memory. In support of this theory, scientists found that typical memories are associated with the hippocampus, while emotionally arousing memories originate from the amygdala.
In a study conducting brain scans, researchers found that people located in the immediate vicinity of the World Trade Center on 9/11 reacted differently than those located in midtown (further away from the attacks). Those who watched coverage of the events as they unfolded on TV experienced activation of the hippocampus and described watching events unfold on television. People in the downtown Manhattan area (where the World Trade Center is located), however, showed activity in both the hippocampus and the amygdala. They were more likely to describe vivid details such as specific scents, sounds, and imagery.
Flashbulb memories vary in accuracy, with the most detailed, accurate recollections typically coming from people with first-hand experience of the event.
Just like typical memories, however, flashbulb memories can be distorted over time by news coverage, social media, and discussions of memories.
False memories and flashbulb memories: Are they connected?
A false memory can vary from an inaccurate memory of an event to the false construction of an event that did not occur. False memories can be very detailed and may seem factual. For example, in one study, researchers told adults that they got lost while visiting a shopping mall as a child. 25% of adults told this story believed it was true, with some recalling specifics of the false event, such as particular outfits they were wearing on that day.
Though flashbulb memories may feel accurate and unchanging, it is estimated that only 25% are likely factual, meaning that many flashbulb memories are categorically false memories. This can be particularly challenging in legal cases, where unreliable eyewitness memories and testimony may be used to incriminate perpetrators or identify relevant information.
Therapy and flashbulb memories
Flashbulb memories are common, and many people will experience them over the course of their lives. Some memories, such as school graduation, marriage, or the birth of a child imprint positive flashbulb memories. Other events, such as trauma, the death of a loved one, or the diagnosis of a disease may be painful to retain a vivid memory of.
Some types of therapy, including eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can be particularly helpful for addressing challenging memories and understanding trauma. One study conducted after the 9/11 attacks found that EMDR was an effective way to alleviate emotional trauma, and CBT can improve the way you handle painful recollections.
A 2021 study from BMC Psychiatry studied the use of online EMDR for 93 patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that clients experienced a statistically significant, meaningful reduction in mental health challenges while attending online EMDR sessions. Another group of researchers studying the effectiveness of online cognitive behavioral therapy for 1,500 patients found that online CBT is comparable in effectiveness to in-person CBT.
Online therapy from sites like BetterHelp can be more affordable than in-person therapy, and many people find it more comfortable to attend sessions from the comfort of their own homes.
Takeaway
Flashbulb memories are vivid memories that can form in response to emotional events. Many people who develop flashbulb memories can remember smells, sights, colors, time of day, or weather with a high degree of detail for decades. Because these memories are detailed, many believe they are highly accurate, but this may not always be true.
Though flashbulb memories can result from positive events, they can also occur from negative events such as the death of a loved one. If you have experienced a traumatic incident or have strong negative memories that are challenging to cope with, an online EMDR or CBT therapist can help. You cannot erase your memories, but you can work to change the way that your memories affect you.
What is a flashbulb memory? Give an example.
A flashbulb memory is a vivid, highly detailed, long-lasting memory of a specific event. They were first described in 1977 by psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulik. In general, people tend to form flashbulb memories of events with great emotional significance, which is likely why they’re so rich and enduring. Psychological research suggests that highly emotional memories of any kind tend to be more strongly retained.
An example of a flashbulb memory might be the vivid recollection of the moment a person learns that they’ve been diagnosed with a serious disease. They might have intense memories of sensory and contextual details such as:
- What clothes they were wearing
- The expression on the doctor’s face
- What the office smelled like
- The texture of the chair they were sitting on
- How their body reacted to the news
- The objects on the doctor’s desk
What are the characteristics of a flashbulb memory?
As originally defined by Brown and Kulik, the key characteristics that define flashbulb memories are:
- Place. People with these memories tend to remember where they were when the relevant event occurred, and may recall significant details of the location.
- Ongoing activity. What an individual was doing, or what was going on around them, are often important factors in forming flashbulb memories.
- Informant. Flashbulb memories often involve learning about something shocking that has happened. The channel through which the individual received this information — such as from another person or while watching television — may be a significant feature of the memory.
- Own affect. The emotional response to the inciting incident is generally a major element of a flashbulb memory.
- Other affect. When flashbulb memories involve multiple people, such as a crowd all witnessing the same startling event, the emotional reactions of the other people often feature prominently in the recollection.
- Aftermath. These memories are often episodic, and the story of what happened after the inciting event can be an important element in the memory.
What is a flashbulb memory and where is it stored?
Flashbulb memories are a type of episodic or autobiographical memory, meaning a memory of a particular occurrence in a person’s life. Researchers are still working to elucidate exactly how memory formation happens in the brain, but current evidence suggests that memories of this type are stored as distributed networks of neurons throughout the neocortex. This is the part of the brain most recently evolved in humans, and it’s involved in a variety of higher-order cognitive functions such as reasoning, language, and social thinking.
Currently, there’s no evidence that flashbulb memories are located in a different part of the cortex than other event memories. That said, the amygdala seems to play an important role in the storage and retrieval of these memories. This region of the brain is involved in processing emotional inputs, especially fear, and may influence the intensity of memories to assist people in learning to avoid danger.
What are 2 reasons why flashbulb memories are so vivid?
One major reason for the extreme vividness of flashbulb memories may be the emotional intensity associated with them. In general, humans recall memories more strongly when they’re formed during periods of high emotional arousal. The creation of flashbulb memories may be an extreme version of the ordinary process of strong feelings producing strong memories.
Another potential reason these memories may be so vivid is that people often recollect and discuss them frequently. Many individuals form flashbulb memories around historically significant events, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall or the assassination of John F. Kennedy. These events are often talked about for years or decades afterward, and repeatedly rehearsing memories may increase their vividness.
What is an example of flashbulb memory in daily life?
Flashbulb memories don’t tend to be formed in the normal course of everyday life. In general, such memories retain their detail and intensity precisely because they involve occurrences that stand out from daily life in their personal and emotional significance.
For example, one of the events for which people most commonly report flashbulb memories is the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. People observing or learning about this culturally traumatic event realized immediately that it was something extraordinary and important. Because it was so unlike other everyday events, it led many people to form evocative memories.
What is flashbulb memory in psychology today?
Psychologists continue to study flashbulb memories to understand what drives their formation and recall. Some of the questions being explored in current research on flashbulb memory include:
- How does media exposure affect flashbulb memory formation?
- Do disorders like schizophrenia affect how these memories are created and recalled?
- How do flashbulb memories of newsworthy events influence social identity?
- Does cultural context alter flashbulb memory consistency?
- Can the accuracy of flashbulb memories be relied upon?
What is the significance of flashbulb memory?
Many researchers find flashbulb memories significant because they may shed light on the underlying mechanisms of ordinary episodic memory. By learning why and how certain autobiographical events become so strongly embedded in memory, we might be better able to understand the process of memory formation as a whole. Flashbulb memories could also be significant for determining how reliable human autobiographical memories are in general.
In addition, a flashbulb memory can have strong personal and social significance for the person who forms it. Shared memories of important events like wars, disasters, or revolutions can help bond people together within cultural groups. Meanwhile, flashbulb memories of important personal events may be important to a person’s life story and individual identity.
How does a memory become a flashbulb?
Research suggests that flashbulb memories form through the same processes as less vivid and detailed memories. They appear to gain their heightened clarity, intensity, and persistence from a combination of:
- Emotional intensity
- Personal or cultural importance
- Repeated recollection and discussion
The strong feelings linked with an event can cause it to be recorded at a high level of detail. Its importance to a person’s life or social groups may then cause the memory to be revisited frequently, often being told to others repeatedly. This repeated recall might be crucial for causing the memory to stick so strongly in someone’s mind.
What factors affect flashbulb memories?
The main characteristics that distinguish flashbulb memories from ordinary autobiographical memories are:
- Vividness. People tend to recall flashbulb memories with a high degree of sensory intensity, more so than ordinary memories.
- Elaborateness. The number of different details involved in flashbulb memories tends to be high, and may include things occurring immediately before and after the event occurred.
- Confidence. People tend to be very certain of their recollections of the details of flashbulb events.
- Persistence. The intensity of flashbulb memories tends to persist over time, more so than that of everyday memories.
Are flashbulb memories always remembered perfectly?
The term “flashbulb” might seem to imply a photographic level of accuracy, but research has shown that flashbulb memories do not perfectly preserve information. The perceived vividness of these memories persists over the long term, but the factual accuracy and consistency of details appear to decline at the same rate as other memories.
Although the emotion associated with an event may be a vital factor in forming a flashbulb memory, people’s recollections of those emotions also seem to change strongly over time. This suggests that flashbulb memories involve different mechanisms than traumatic memories, which often trigger a re-experiencing of the original emotional response.
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