MEMORY & EMOTION CLO #12: Evaluate one theory of how emotions may affect one cognitive process.

Flashbulb Memory Theory This theory was suggested by Brown & Kulik (1977). It states that there is a special kind of episodic memory (explicit memory) of highly emotional events that appear to be recorded in the brain as though with the help of a camera flash. These memories are, therefore, vivid and detailed.

Flashbulb Memory Theory (cont.) These types of memories are presumed to be highly resistant to forgetting due to the emotional arousal at the moment of encoding. They are also presumed to be highly accurate and intact over time because they are rehearsed due to their emotional importance to the individual.

Flashbulb Memory Theory (cont.) Six features that people remember in detail: 1. Place (where they were when incident happened) 2. Ongoing Activity (what they were doing) 3. Informant (how they learned about incident) 4. Own Affect (how they felt) 5. Other Affect (how others felt) 6. Aftermath (consequences/aftermath of event)

Flashbulb Memory Study (Brown and Kulik,1977) Researchers interviewed people about their memories of important public events like the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. The 80 participants had very clear memories of where they were, what they did and what they felt.

Personal Experiences They also found that 73 of the 80 participants had flashbulb memory experiences connected to a personal experience, usually the sudden death of a loved one.

Biological Basis for Flashbulb Memory Brown & Kulik suggested the existence of a special neural mechanism which triggers an emotional arousal because the event is extremely important and/or unexpected. The activity in the amygdala has been suggested as the cause for FM.

FINDINGS FM is more likely in unexpected and personal events.

Challenger Disaster Study (Neisser & Harsch, 1992) AIM: To test the accuracy of FM. METHODS: 106 Students were given a questionnaire and asked to write a description of how they got the news (this was less than 24 hours after the event). Two and a half years later they were given the same questionnaire. FINDINGS: There were major discrepancies between the two questionnaires. The mean score of correctness out of 7 questions was 2.95.

Challenger Disaster Study (Neisser & Harsch, 1992) Evaluation: 1.The degree of emotional arousal could be different for a personal event rather than a public event. 2. The study was conducted in a natural environment so higher ecological validity.

Justifying the two studies Neisser (1982) suggests that emotional events are so vivid because the event is rehearsed so many times after it occurs. In other words, the importance is attached to the memory at a later date based on the number of times it is rehearsed and a storytelling schema which follows a specific structure (answers to the questions where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with?)

Partial Reconstruction Based on Current Appraisal of Events In a 1994 study by Breckler, he found that people’s current attitudes about donating blood impacted their memories about past experiences of donating blood. Another study found that men whose marriages had become less happy recalled early interactions as more negative than they had originally reported.

Important Points 1.FM theory explains why emotional memories are more vividly remembered, but they are not more accurate. 2. A FM is a reconstructed memory where the emotional importance may influence the way the memory is reconstructed.

Genetic Link to Emotion & Memory Read the article “Lest we forget…” and consider the following: What is the genetic argument for emotion memory? What is the biological aspect that may impact emotion & memory?