Memories of the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001: A Study of the Consistency and Phenomenal Characteristics of Flashbulb Memories

Although research converges on the idea that surprise is not essential to form a 'flashbulb memory' (FBM), no study has explicitly shown that a FBM that develops from an unexpected event has the same structure as a FBM that develops from an expected event. In the present research, we explored whether there is any substantial difference on veridicality, consistency and confidence in both autobiographical and event memories for surprising and expected events. Two groups of participants were tested for their memories of a surprising (Study I) or an expected (Study II) event at different delays of indexing from the original news. All participants were then re-tested after 6 months and again after 1 year from the first interview. The same patterns of results were found for both events. Consistent with the 'narrative and rehearsal' hypothesis, our results provide direct evidence that surprise does not affect the structure of a FBM.

Section: Dissociation Between Confidence and Consistencysupporting

confidence: 50%

Autobiographical and event memories for surprising and unsurprising events

Coluccia

Bianco

Brandimonte

2009

“…Several studies showed people in different cultures, including Turkey, had detailed recollections of how they heard about this event (Pezdek, 2003;Romeu, 2006;Tekcan, Ece, Gulgoz, & Er, 2003). The first was the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, on 11 September 2001, as a result of which approximately 3000 people died.…”

Section: The Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was undoubtedly one of the most devastating public events in recent history that had worldwide consequences. Several studies showed people in different cultures, including Turkey, had detailed recollections of how they heard about this event (Pezdek, 2003;Romeu, 2006;Tekcan, Ece, Gulgoz, & Er, 2003).…”

Section: The Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canonical Categories in Flashbulb Memories

Kızılöz

Tekcan

2013

Recall of canonical categories has been widely used to measure flashbulb memory performance. However, these canonical categories are based on a single study and have been inconsistently used in the literature making comparisons across studies potentially problematic. The purpose of the present study was to provide further data toward determining the generality of canonical categories. We asked 135 participants to provide open-ended narratives of how they first learned about three public events, one of which was also a personal event for some of the participants. Results showed that seven categories of information consisting of two new categories (others present and thought) in addition to the five identified by Brown and Kulik (place, informant, activity, own affect, and aftermath) accounted for most of the information in flashbulb memory narratives.

A review of longitudinal studies on flashbulb memories. Where we started, are, and are going?

Frinco,

Muzzulini,

Tinti

et al. 2024

Since Brown and Kulik (1977) coined the term ‘Flashbulb memories’ (FBMs), there are still heated debates about their nature. We thus considered it useful to take stock of almost 50 years of research by reviewing 57 test–retest studies on FBMs for public events. The review aimed to answer six research questions by examining the target events and populations investigated (RQ1); the methods used to assess differences among groups and the effect of time on memory (RQ2); the assessment of FBMs' contents (RQ3), consistency (RQ4), vividness and confidence (RQ5); the criteria used to draw studies' conclusions (RQ6). Results show a huge methodological heterogeneity which may have contributed to the different conclusions about the special status of FBMs. The in‐depth comparison of 9/11 studies suggests that results may differ depending on the methods used. Finally, the paper provides methodological suggestions for future FBMs studies and seeks to stimulate critical theoretical reflections.