Editing Flashbulb memory (section)

{{weasel|date=December 2024}}
{{Short description|Type of vivid, enduring autobiographical memory}}
{{For|the form of non-volatile computer memory|Flash memory}}
A '''flashbulb memory''' is a vivid, long-lasting memory about a surprising or shocking event.<ref name="Davidson P" /><ref name= "Brown">{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Brown | first1 = Roger 
| last2 = Kulik | first2 = James 
| doi = 10.1016/0010-0277(77)90018-X 
| title = Flashbulb memories 
| journal = Cognition 
| volume = 5 
| issue = 1
| pages = 73–99
| year = 1977 
| s2cid = 53195074 
}}</ref> 

The term flashbulb memory suggests the surprise, indiscriminate illumination, detail, and brevity of a photograph; however, flashbulb memories are only somewhat indiscriminate and are far from complete.<ref name="Brown" /> Evidence has shown that although people are highly confident in their memories, the details of the memories can be forgotten.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robinson-Riegler|first=Bridget|title=Cognitive Psychology|year=2012|publisher=Allyn & Bacon|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-205-03364-5|pages=297–299}}</ref>

Flashbulb memories are one type of [[autobiographical memory]]. Some researchers believe that there is reason to distinguish flashbulb memories from other types of autobiographical memories because they rely on elements of personal importance, consequence, emotion, and surprise.<ref name = "Brown"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Flashbulb memories (Essays in cognitive psychology) |last=Conway |first=Martin A. |year=1995 |publisher=L. Erlbaum Associates |isbn=978-0863773532}}</ref><ref name="PillemerComment1990" /> Others believe that ordinary memories can also be accurate and long-lasting if they are highly distinctive, personally significant,<ref name="McCloskey">{{Cite journal
 |last1       = McCloskey
 |first1      = Michael
 |last2       = Wible
 |first2      = Cynthia G.
 |last3       = Cohen
 |first3      = Neal J.
 |doi         = 10.1037/0096-3445.117.2.171
 |title       = Is there a special flashbulb-memory mechanism?
 |journal     = Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
 |volume      = 117
 |issue       = 2
 |pages       = 171–181
 |date        = June 1988
 |url         = http://pjackson.asp.radford.edu/4McCloskeyetal1988memory.pdf  <!-- alternate URL: https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/60270/original/McCloskey+Wible++Cohen+(1988).pdf -->
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720033813/http://pjackson.asp.radford.edu/4McCloskeyetal1988memory.pdf
 |archive-date = 2011-07-20
|url-access= subscription
 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Weaver 
| first1 = Charles A. 
| doi = 10.1037/0096-3445.122.1.39 
| title = Do you need a "flash" to form a flashbulb memory? 
| journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 
| volume = 122 
| pages = 39–46 
| date = March 1993 
| s2cid = 144337190
}}</ref> or repeatedly rehearsed.<ref name="Neisser">Neisser, U. (1982). "Snapshots or benchmarks", Memory Observed: Remembering in Natural Contexts, ed. 43–48, San Francisco: Freeman</ref>

Flashbulb memories have six characteristic features: place, ongoing activity, informant, own affect, other affect, and aftermath.<ref name="Brown"/> Arguably, the principal determinants of a flashbulb memory are a high level of surprise, a high level of consequentiality, and perhaps emotional arousal.