PDF (PhD Thesis Susan Chipchase) - Nottingham eTheses ...

Section 2.2. How can memory be researched?
The study of memory can also be divided into that of naturally
occurring memories, and experimentally produced memories, in the same way
as for the study of emotion, as described above. The way in which the study of
memory and emotion can differ between autobiographical and laboratory
controlled memories will be discussed below.
Section 2.2.1. Study of autobiographical memories
Three ways in which emotional autobiographical memories have been
studied are in the examination of eyewitness memory, flashbulb memory and
memory for traumatic experiences. The research has often focused on whether
emotion enhances or diminishes the strength of memory for an event and
whether special mechanisms are required to account for the effects of emotion
on memory (Schooler & Eich, 2000). The accuracy of eyewitness testimony is
very often impaired and different aspects of the event may be remembered
better than others. Memory for central details may be improved but at the cost
of an impairment in memory the peripheral details, as has been demonstrated in
studies which have found a weapon focusing effect, whereby memory is
impaired in the presence of a gun or knife (Loftus, Loftus, & Messo, 1987).
Flashbulb memories were first described by Brown & Kulik (1977) and refer to
vivid memories for hearing about salient news stories, such as the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy, or more recently the terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center in New York. These flashbulb memories were
characterized as being incredibly accurate and involving unique memory
processes, although later research has refuted both the level of accuracy of such
memories (e.g. McCloskey, Wible, & Cohen, 1988) and its unique mechanism
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