Editing Flashbulb memory (section)

===Personal involvement and proximity===
[[Image:LomaPrieta-PacificGardenMall.jpeg|right|thumb|Santa Cruz's historic Pacific Garden Mall suffered severe damage during the [[1989 Loma Prieta earthquake]].]]

It has been documented that people that are involved in a flashbulb event have more accurate recollections compared to people that were not involved in the event.  Recollections of those who experienced the [[1999 İzmit earthquake|Marmara]] earthquake in [[Turkey]] had more accurate recollections of the event than people who had no direct experience.  In this study, the majority of participants in the victim group recalled more specific details about the earthquake compared to the group that was not directly affected by the earthquake, and rather received their information about it from the news.<ref name = "Wiley"/>  Another study compared Californians' memories of an earthquake that happened in [[California]] to the memories of the  same earthquake formed by people who were living in [[Atlanta]].  The results indicated that the people that were personally involved with the earthquake had better recall of the event.  Californians' recall of the event were much higher than Atlantans', with the exception of those who had relatives in the affected area, such that they reported being more personally involved.<ref name = "Neisser U"/> The death of Pope John Paul II has created many flashbulb memories among people who were more religiously involved with the Catholic Church. The more involved someone is to a religion, city or group, the more importance and consequentiality is reported for an event. More emotions are reported, resulting in more consistent flashbulb memories.<ref name="Tinti, C. 2009"/>

A study (Sharot et al. 2007) conducted on the [[September 11 attacks]] demonstrates that proximity plays a part in the accuracy of recall of flashbulb memories.  Three years after the terrorist attacks, participants were asked to retrieve memories of 9/11, as well as memories of personally selected control events from 2001.  At the time of the attacks, some participants were in the downtown [[Manhattan]] region, closer to the World Trade Center, while others were in Midtown, a few miles away.  The participants who were closer to downtown recalled more emotionally significant detailed memories than the Midtown participants.  When looking solely at the Manhattan participants, the retrieval of memories for 9/11 were accompanied by an enhancement in recollective experience relative to the retrieval of other memorable life events in only a subset of participants who were, on average, two miles from the World Trade Center (around [[Washington Square Park|Washington Square]]) and not in participants who were, on average, 4.5 miles from the World Trade Center (around the [[Empire State Building]]).  Although focusing only on participants that were in Manhattan on 9/11, the recollections of those closer to the World Trade Center were more vivid than those who were farther away.  The downtown participants reported seeing, hearing, and even smelling what had happened.<ref name = "Sharot">{{cite journal |author1=Sharot T. |author2=Martorella A. |author3=Delgado R. |author4=Phelps A. | year = 2006 | title = How Personal experience modulates the neural circuitry of memories of September 11 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 104 | issue = 1| pages = 389–394 | doi=10.1073/pnas.0609230103 | pmid=17182739 | pmc=1713166|doi-access=free }}</ref>  Personal involvement in, or proximity to, a national event could explain greater accuracy in memories because there could be more significant consequences for the people involved, such as the death of a loved one, which can create more emotional activation in the brain.  This emotional activation in the brain has been shown to be involved in the recall of flashbulb memories.