Describe And Evaluate Relevant Theories Of Flashbulb Memory

While there is a long history of the study of memory, across many fields of study, the concept is still ill-defined. To correct this, further inquiry is needed to overcome critical blind spots in scientific understanding of memory. Critical blinds spots in the neurological bases of memory, episodic and semantic memory, as well as working memory will be discussed to better understand the current state of memory and what it truly is.

Good friend, W. (2012, December 4). Amnesia in '50 First Dates ' Retrieved July 21, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychologist-the-movies/201212/amnesia-in-50-first-dates

Cognitive level of analysis studies cognition, cognition means that it is involved with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating. This includes memory, which is an important cognitive process specially when looking into eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness testimony is a legal expression signified to an incident people have witnessed such as, it might be an accident on the road people have seen and need to give their account. Juries in a court case pay extremely close attention to the eyewitness testimony and typically find it a reliable source of information however; it can be affected by psychological influences like leading questions, schemas and reconstructive memory.

The biological approach to the basis of memory is explained in terms of underlying biological factors such as the activity of the nervous system, genetic factors, biochemical and neurochemicals. In general terms memory is our ability to encode, store, retain and recall information and past experiences afterwards in the human brain. In biological terms, memory is the recreation of past experiences by simultaneous activation or firing of neurons. Some of the major biopsychological research questions on memory are what are the biological substrates of memory, where are memories stored in the brain, how are memories assessed during recall and what is the mechanism of forgetting. The two main reasons that gave rise to the interest in biological basis of memory are that researchers became aware of the fact that many memory deficits arise from injuries to the brain. And the other reason was that they realized that psychological processes must have a physiological basis.

Memory is an idea that people often rely on for important information, however, it is something that we cannot often always rely on. Although we all believe that our memories are true, researchers have found just how easy it is to implant another idea into our brain. Multiple studies have been conducted demonstrating just how simple it is to misconstrue a false idea to be real. Researcher Bartlett (1932) was able to give us key terms to identify the concepts of memory which are reproductive and reconstructive memory. Reproductive memory is accurate memory, but reconstructive memory is trying to remember ideas and concepts but contain many errors (Bartlett, 1932, p.) These words are very important in understanding the concept of memory because

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Bless Me, Ultima are stories told to us years after the fact. In Yunior’s case, enough time has passed for his ex-girlfriend Lola to have borne a daughter by another man. And Lola’s daughter is old enough for Yunior to be able to observe how she has “her mother’s [strong] legs.”

Although on the surface, the element of memory in the study of psychology may seem basic and rudimentary, the depths of memory are essentially, untapped. To truly understand the depths of memory, one must understand the storage of memory, the recollection of memory, and the processes of sharing memories. In order to obtain a better understanding of the subject matter, the examination of the independent documentary, Stories We Tell, was applied. Memory is also conceptualized into types, stages, and processes. These principles were measured in the lucrative and thorough examination of a childhood memory. In order to ensure the reliability and validity of the memory, the use of self-recollection, the use of recording, and the use of sharing with

Throughout our lifetime, there are going to be moments, situations and experiences that are more forgetful than others. The difference between the events that we tend to forget and the ones that stick in our mind like glue is the emotion behind those memories. The term flashbulb memory refers to memories, which are highly detailed and vivid memories due to the emotional circumstances surrounding the event itself (Goldstein, p 209, 2008). These are memories that have so much feeling attached to them it causes that specific memory to become imprinted in your mind it almost feels like it happened yesterday. You are able to recall where you were when the event happened, what you were wearing as well as all the feelings and emotions you experienced during that time. The circumstances that constitute a flashbulb memory are different for everyone and are completely subjective and unique to each

Human memory may not, as many think, resemble a permanent tape of our lives ' events, replayable at a whim.

1. Flashbulb memories are very detailed and vivid reconstructive memories that are usually linked with emotion and last a lifetime. Originally, flashbulb memories were thought to be very accurate and uneasily forgotten. One of the first studies ever done on flashbulb memories was Brown and Kulik (1977). They wanted to investigate if flashbulb memories were as accurate as everyone hypothesized they were. They had 80 participants in their study. Each participant was asked to recall memories that were linked to a shocking event. The results were that participants were able to recall the memories vividly and with much detail. Memories that were linked with a high level of emotion such as the assassination of JFK or a death of a relative caused

ARTICLE 1 (TO PLEASANTNESS BIAS IN FLASHBULB MEMORIES: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FLASHBULB MEMORIES OF THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL AMONG EAST AND WEST GERMANS)

Flashbulbs are like beacons of radiant light in a long tunnel of darkness, and flashbulb memories act in just the same way. Humans go throughout their life from moment to moment and from day to day, but there are certain memories that stand out like lighthouses or a sore thumb. There tends to be a much smaller collection of these that each individual holds within their head and for many Americans who were conscious within the past twenty years, one stands out as a great connector rather than

This paper serves as a reaction to the article “Oh Where, Oh Where Have Those Early Memories Gone? A Developmental Perspective on Childhood Amnesia” by Patricia J. Bauer, PhD. The article expresses the author’s thoughts on Childhood amnesia, rather the rates that children and adults forget early life experiences. It addresses forgetting rates of you children and adults. I agree with the author’s thoughts related to age progression and the rate of forgetting.

“Flashbulb memories (FBM) are highly vivid and long-lasting memories for events that are emotionally significant and personally important” (as cited in Kraha and Boals, 2014). Most of the previous research on this phenomenon solely examined negative events and their capabilities to produce vivid negative flashbulb memories. Some of the previous research also focused on comparing similarities between positive and negative events. Although researchers have proved that flashbulb memories not only form from negative events but also neutral and positive ones, there haven 't been many studies on the development of positive flashbulb memories. The current study aims to “examine the phenomenological characteristics of positive flashbulb memories”

There are other movements, beside physical body movement, allowed by our brain of which individuals are not conscious, or at least not fully conscious; namely, the action of remembering and forgetting. According to Pierre Nora memory “remains in permanent evolution, open to the dialectic of remembering and forgetting” (8) process which he claims to be “unconscious”. It is given to this dialectic, as Jan Assmann mentions in his essay Collective Memory and Cultural Identity that ““the survival of the type” in the sense of a cultural pseudo-species is a function of the cultural memory…” (126), which means: first, that the identity of a place is not inherited through genes; and second, that it depends on individuals’ conscious effort to maintain it. Individual memory or communicative memory as Assmann calls it “does not extent more than eighty to (at the very most) hundred years…” (127). All of which indicates that our brain will forget memories which are not use; from there society inclination to records.