Editing Flashbulb memory (section)

=== Age differences ===

In general, younger adults form flashbulb memories more readily than older adults.<ref name="Cohen1993">{{cite journal|last=Cohen|first=G|author2=Conway, M. |author3=Maylor, E. |title=Flashbulb memories in older adults|journal=Psychology and Aging|year=1993|volume=9|issue=3|doi=10.1037/0882-7974.9.3.454|pages=454–63|pmid=7999330}}</ref> One study examined age-related differences in flashbulb memories: participants were tested for memory within 14 days of an important event and then retested for memory of the same event 11 months later. Even 11 months after the event occurred, nearly all the younger adults experienced flashbulb memories, but less than half of the older adults met all the criteria of a flashbulb memory. Younger and older adults also showed different reasons for recalling vivid flashbulb memories. The main predictor for creating flashbulb among younger adults was emotional connectedness to the event, whereas older adults relied more on rehearsal of the event in creating flashbulb memories.<ref name="Cohen1993" /> Being emotionally connected was not enough for older adults to create flashbulbs; they also needed to rehearse the event over the 11 months to remember details. Older adults also had more difficulty remembering the context of the event; the older adults were more likely to forget with whom they spoke and where events took place on a daily basis.<ref name="Cohen1993" />
If older adults are significantly impacted by the dramatic event, however, they could form flashbulb memories that are just as detailed as those that younger adults form. Older adults that were personally impacted by or close to September 11 recalled memories that did not differ in detail from those of younger adults.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kvavilashili|first=L|author2=Mirani, J. |author3=Schlagman, S. |author4=Erskine, J. |author5=Kornbrot, D. |title=Effects of age on phenomenology and consistency of flashbulb memories of September 11 and a staged control event|journal=Psychology and Aging|year=2010|volume=25|pages=391–404|doi=10.1037/a0017532|issue=2|pmid=20545423|hdl=2299/10440|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Conway|first=A.|author2=Skitka, L. |author3=Hemmerich, J. |author4=Kershaw, T. |title=FLashbulb memory for 11 September 2001|journal=Applied Cognitive Psychology|year=2009|volume=23|pages=605–23|doi=10.1002/acp.1497|issue=5}}</ref>
Older adults were found to be more confident in their memories than younger adults, in regards to whom they were with, where they were, and their own personal emotions at the time of hearing the news of 9/11. Older adults remembered a vast majority of events between the ages of 10 and 30, a period known as the "[[reminiscence bump]]". During that period, events occur during a time of finding one's identity and peak brain function. These events tend to be more talked about than events occurring outside this period.  Flashbulb memories from the "reminiscence bump" are better remembered by older adults than are memories are having recently occurred.<ref>{{Cite journal 
| doi = 10.2190/AG.70.4.a 
| last1 = Denver | first1 = J. Y. 
| last2 = Lane | first2 = S. M. 
| last3 = Cherry | first3 = K. E. 
| title = Recent versus remote: Flashbulb memory for 9/11 and self-selected events from the reminiscence bump 
| journal = The International Journal of Aging & Human Development 
| volume = 70 
| issue = 4 
| pages = 275–297 
| year = 2010 
| pmid = 20649160
| s2cid = 22519766 }}</ref>