Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies of 'Flashbulb' Memories (Emory Symposia in Cognition, Series Number 4)

Recollections of unexpected and emotional events (called ''flashbulb'' memories) have long been the subject of theoretical speculation. The fourth Emory Symposium on Cognition brought together everyone who has done research on memories of the Challenger explosion, in order to gain better understanding of the phenomenon of flashbulb memories: How do flashbulb memories compare with other kinds of recollections? Are they unusually accurate, or especially long-lived? Do they reflect the activity of a special mechanism, as has been suggested? The book also addresses more general issues of affect and accuracy: Do emotion and arousal strengthen memory? If so, under what conditions? By what physiological mechanisms? Empirical Studies. Phantom Flashbulbs : False Recollections Of Hearing The News About Challenger / Ulric Neisser And Nicole Harsch -- Potential Flashbulbs : Memories Of Ordinary News As The Baseline / Steen F. Larsen -- Flashbulb Memories : Confidence, Consistency, And Quantity / John Neil Bohannon Iii And Victoria Louise Symons -- Developmental Studies. Developmental Issues In Flashbulb Memory Research : Children Recall The Challenger Event / Amye Richelle Warren And Jeffery N. Swartwood -- Preschool Children's Memories Of Personal Circumstances : The Fire Alarm Study / David B. Pillemer -- Emotion And Memory. A Proposed Neurobiological Basis For Regulating Memory Storage For Significant Events / Paul E. Gold -- Remembering The Details Of Emotional Events / Daniel Reisberg And Friderike Heuer -- Do Flashbulb Memories Differ From Other Types Of Emotional Memories? / Sven-Åke Christianson. (cont.) Why Do Traumatic Experiences Sometimes Produce Good Memory (flashbulbs) And Sometimes No Memory (repression)? / Elizabeth F. Lotus And Leah Kaufman -- Theoretical Issues. Special Versus Ordinary Memory Mechanisms In The Genesis Of Flashbulb Memories / Michael Mccloskey -- Remembering Personal Circumstances : A Functional Analysis / David B. Pillemer -- Constraints On Memory / David C. Rubin -- The Theoretical And Empirical Status Of The Flashbulb Memory Hypothesis / William F. Brewer. Edited By Eugene Winograd And Ulric Neisser. Originally Published: 1992. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Recollections of unexpected and emotional events (called 'flashbulb' memories) have long been the subject of theoretical speculation. Previous meetings have brought together everyone who has done research on memories of the Challenger explosion, in order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon of flashbulb memories. How do flashbulb memories compare with other kinds of recollections? Are they unusually accurate, or especially long-lived? Do they reflect the activity of a special mechanism, as has been suggested? Although Affect and Accuracy in Recall focuses on flashbulb memories, it addresses more general issues of affect and accuracy. Do emotion and arousal strengthen memory? If so, under what conditions? By what physiological mechanisms? This 1993 volume is evidence of progress made in memory research since Brown and Kulick's 1977 paper Looks at flashbulb memories - recollections of unexpected and emotional events - and examines how they compare with other recollections. Reviewing evidence since Brown and Kulick's 1977 paper, this work asks whether emotion and arousal strengthen memory and, if so, by what physiological mechanisms