Memory Psychology

A flashbulb memory is an exceptionally clear reflection of an important event (openstax 8.2). In most instances, people can recall the weather, what they were wearing, dialogue, etc.

Throughout our lives, we definitely have gone through a lot of experiences and made memories. Some of the memories are easily forgotten, while some others are remembered distinctively, vividly and can be recollected confidently. This is called the flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memory is like a very clear picture of a particularly impactful event which had caused one to be affected emotionally. For example, I remember this performance that my school choir was performing. It was during Christmas season and we decided to spray bubble foam to portray fake snow. However, the plan backfired when the wind blew at our direction and all the foam flew back to us. This was remembered very clearly because I was embarrassed and had experienced something so

Memory retention is essential to all human beings. It is a fundamental function of our brain: whether it be memorizing people’s names, memorizing math formulas, or memorizing the location of the car keys. We all recognize the importance of memorization and we all seek ways to improve our memory retention skills.

74. Raymond remembers, “When I was a sophomore, I took the hardest physics test of my life, and I was happy with my C.” This memory represents a(n)

Messages become shorter when passed from one person to the next. Memories can be modified to fit one’s personal social experiences (i.e., conventionalization). Memory is unreliable, sensory stimuli are not stored as is but are actively transformed by the brain for storage depending on individual factors such as personal relevance and expectations. The most essential information is better remembered, but what is considered “most essential” may depend on an individual’s experiences. This suggests memory does not function as a video recording, but is a highly complex process that is influenced by an individual’s levels of attention, motivation, expectations, experiences, emotional state, etc. It also suggests that memory is an active process that involves constructing narratives out of events rather than passively recording

One lovely day my dad, brother, uncle, my cousin, and I were hanging out at lake watauga and taking ride out on the pontoon boat and tubing. We were talking on our pontoon boat at the dock and then it started to rain. Then I hear a big train coming fast at me. It was so scary because my brother cousin and I were freaking out. We sprinted up to our yurt, and my uncle hid in a shed a my brother and cousin were in the bathroom scared while my dad and I were trying to hatch down the yurt. Then all the rain lifted and there was a wall of rain and all the power went out. It was really frightening my dad tried closing the doors but they wouldn't close and he was thrown back from all the wind. So once he shut the doores he couldn't lock

I was in a dental continuing education class when the seminar was interrupted by an administrator with the news of planes crashing into the twin towers, this an example of a flashbulb memory. Flashbulb memories are the memories a person creates when they hear shocking news, where the memory is more accurate of what a person was doing or where they were, more so than the actual event details. Flashbulb memories are based more on an emotional level of the person, where as ordinary memories are created based on an actual event or occasion happening, so that your emotion plays a larger part on the details and vivid memories of the dramatic event that created your flashbulb memory. Studies have shown that ordinary memories will dim over time and

How does memory work? Is it possible to improve your memory? In order to answer these questions, one must look at the different types of memory and how memory is stored in a person's brain.Memory is the mental process of retaining and recalling information or experiences. (1) It is the process of taking events, or facts and storing them in the brain for later use. There are three types of memory: sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Flashbulb memories are, by definition, the memory of emotionally significant events that people often recall with more accuracy and vivid imagery than everyday life. As such, flashbulb memories can be positive or negative. Flashbulb memories are a type of Autobiographical memory: a special form of episodic memory, consisting of a person's recollections of his or her life experiences. The controversy as to whether flashbulb memories are as accurate as the owner of the memory believes it to be is still under debate. Because of the unique way these memories form, the memories are indeed more accurate than a ordinary memory. The emotion and rehearsal of flashbulb memories are the building tools to make the memory so durable. However, studies show

Flashbulb memories are ones that, unlike others, are automatically encoded and are in a permanent sort of storage in our minds. Flash bulb memories are often accompanied by strong emotions that flood an individual, as well as being extremely vivid and charged.(Ciccarelli & White, 2015, p.240) One of the most well known examples of flashbulb memory are experienced by those of the baby-boomer generation. These individuals often claim that they remember exactly where they were, what they were doing and the details of their surroundings on the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Although these memories might seem to be exact, time can alter these memories without the individual noticing. This is why some psychologists are not fond of or

The two concepts that I resonated with are Memory and the Psychodynamic theory. Starting with the Psychodynamic theory is an approach to psychology that studies the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions, and how they may relate to early childhood experience. This theory is most closely associated with the work of Sigmund Freud, and with psychoanalysis, a type of psychotherapy that attempts to explore the patient’s unconscious thoughts and emotions so that the person is better able to understand him or herself. The second one is Memory; understanding how memory works will help you improves your memory. Which is an essential key to attaining knowledge. Memory is one of the important cognitive processes. Memory involves remembering and forgetting. I chose the two concepts because throughout the class they stood out to the most. Understanding the conscious, subconscious mind and also memory. I’m interested in understanding the human behavior.

Cognitive psychology is the study of mental processes. The American Psychological Association defines cognitive psychology as "The study of higher mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, and thinking."[1] Much of the work derived from cognitive psychology has been integrated into various other modern disciplines of psychological study including social psychology, personality psychology, abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and educational psychology.

Memory makes us. It is, to an extent, a collection of unique and personal experiences that we, as individuals, have amassed over our lifetime. It is what connects us to our past and what shapes our present and the future. If we are unable remember the what, when, where, and who of our everyday lives, our level of functioning would be greatly impacted. Memory is defined as or recognized as the “sum or total of what we remember.” Memory provides us the ability to learn and adjust to or from prior experiences. In addition, memory or our ability to remember plays an integral role in the building and sustaining of relationships. Additionally, memory is also a process; it is how we internalize and store our external environment and experiences. It entails the capacity to remember past experiences, and the process of recalling previous experiences, information, impressions, habits and skills to awareness. It is the storage of materials learned and/or retained from our experiences. This fact is demonstrated by the modification, adjustment and/or adaptation of structure or behavior. Furthermore, we as individuals, envision thoughts and ideas of the present through short-term memory, or in our working memory, we warehouse past experiences and learned values in long-term memory, also referred to as episodic or semantic memory. Most importantly, memory is malleable and it is intimately linked to our sense of identity and where we believe we belong in the world.

Recollections of vivid autobiographical episodic memories formed when an individual experiences intense emotions, generating from a surprising public event defines Flashbulb memories (FBMs). Permanent and consistent remembrances processed cognitively and stored as explicit recollections in long term memory are additional features of FBMs (Goldstein, 2014). Brown & Kulik (1977) first proposed this phenomenon and argued FBMs are resistant to change like photographs. The ongoing debate over the process of cognition in relation to storing and recalling FBMs led numerous researchers to advance their understanding of the mental processing of FBMs and to evaluate the impact emotions have on memories. This paper discusses the pioneer investigation and findings from Brown & Kulik’s 1977. It further explores debates opposing their unique theory of FBMs and the apparent inadequacies of their conclusions. Additionally, this paper examines plausible hypotheses from researchers for the formation of FBMs like rehearsal of events and the inconsistencies of FBMs, their distortions and the decay FBMs experience over time. It then evaluates a contemporary study on FBMs and the necessity for future studies to develop a method to measure FBMs. This is imperative in order to gain a deeper understanding of the influences emotions have on shaping, processing and storing FBMs cognitively and consequently how it impacts on our daily lives.

There is also evidence against Flashbulb memories such as firstly it cannot be proved whether the participants are telling the truth or lying about an event since everyone's interpretation of where they were etc will be different, so it cannot be proved whether it is a flashbulb memory or just a memory. Secondly it is also difficult to prove how accurate flashbulb memories are since they all have different degrees of significance to people too so certain people will remember less or more and others will forget parts of the memory where as others will not. Thirdly with large events such as