Key Studies - Brown and Kulick Flashbulb Memories
FLASHBULB MEMORY THEORY
Learning Objective: Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process
• The interaction between emotion and the cognitive process of memory can be seen through research into flashbulb memory. • There is evidence to suggest that emotion plays a significant role in memory, and the amygdala appears to play an important role in emotional responses… thus having an impact on memory. • However, the debate still centers around whether flashbulb memories are a special kind or memory, or just as unreliable as other types of memory.
THE THEORY (Brown & Kulick, 1977):
Flashbulb Memories - Where Were You Then?
A flashbulb memory is a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid 'snapshot' of the moment and circumstances in which a piece of surprising and important (or emotionally arousing) news was heard.
In 1977, the psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulick attempted to define people's recollections of the John F. Kennedy assassination when they referred to them as "flashbulb memories." They defined them as: • Exceptionally vivid memories • Usually consequential events with emotional significance • Resistant to forgetting over time
They suggested that a novel and shocking event activates a special brain mechanism, which they referred to as "Now Print." Much like a camera's flashbulb, Brown and Kulick hypothesized, the Now Print mechanism preserves or "freezes" whatever happens at the moment when we learn of the shocking event.
Bown and Kulick propose that there an evolutionary and biological basis for the “Now Print: The mechanism is activated when a given event occurs unexpectedly and has biologically significant consequences for individual’s lives so that people are ready to recognize similar events in the future.”
The debate centers on whether they are a special case, or the same as other memories
Here is a description of a flashbulb memory of the JFK assassination:
"I do
Learning Objective: Evaluate one theory of how emotion may affect one cognitive process
• The interaction between emotion and the cognitive process of memory can be seen through research into flashbulb memory. • There is evidence to suggest that emotion plays a significant role in memory, and the amygdala appears to play an important role in emotional responses… thus having an impact on memory. • However, the debate still centers around whether flashbulb memories are a special kind or memory, or just as unreliable as other types of memory.
THE THEORY (Brown & Kulick, 1977):
Flashbulb Memories - Where Were You Then?
A flashbulb memory is a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid 'snapshot' of the moment and circumstances in which a piece of surprising and important (or emotionally arousing) news was heard.
In 1977, the psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulick attempted to define people's recollections of the John F. Kennedy assassination when they referred to them as "flashbulb memories." They defined them as: • Exceptionally vivid memories • Usually consequential events with emotional significance • Resistant to forgetting over time
They suggested that a novel and shocking event activates a special brain mechanism, which they referred to as "Now Print." Much like a camera's flashbulb, Brown and Kulick hypothesized, the Now Print mechanism preserves or "freezes" whatever happens at the moment when we learn of the shocking event.
Bown and Kulick propose that there an evolutionary and biological basis for the “Now Print: The mechanism is activated when a given event occurs unexpectedly and has biologically significant consequences for individual’s lives so that people are ready to recognize similar events in the future.”
The debate centers on whether they are a special case, or the same as other memories
Here is a description of a flashbulb memory of the JFK assassination:
"I do