Introduction to Cognitive Psychology - Department of Psychological ...

Prof. Greg Francis 1/2/13Flashbulb memoriesHighly emotional events tend to produce strongmemoriese.g. JFK assassination Challenger explosion Oklahoma City bombing Earthquakes September 11, 2001 ...Flashbulb memoriesPeople vividly recall detailssurrounding event where they were when theyheard what people said clothing worn time of day,..People are confident abouttheir reports however...Purdue UniversityPurdue UniversityFlashbulb memories Talarico & Rubin (2003) On September 12, 2001Asked volunteers to answer questionsabout their memory of The WTC attack An ordinary event (volunteers choice)Three groups for follow up 7 days later 42 days later 224 days laterRecalling of details was the same forWTC attack and ordinary eventPurdue UniversityFlashbulb memoriesThe memories of the WTCattack were more vividSubjects believed thosememories were more likely to bereliableOrdinary memories Faded in vividness Belief decreased over timePurdue UniversityFlashbulb memoriesSubjects confidence in their memory can bemisleading retelling of the story (I remember vividly when Kennedywas shot. I was…) probably reinforced the story Maybe not the true memoryFlashbulb memories are a real phenomenonabout the experience of memory, but probably not super-memoryMemory misattributionDonald Thomson was accused of rape and picked out ofa lineup by the victim (Schacter, 1996)He was on live TV at the time of the rape Ironically, he was discussing memory of faces for eyewitnesstestimonyThe victim had the TV on at the time of rape misattributed the face on TV for the face of her attacker very accurate report of the crime, otherwisePurdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPSY 200: Intro. to Cognitive Psychology 2