Flashbulb Memories
Posted by in LifeOne of the other hats I wear is as a textbook writer, and part of this job requires me to look at a wide variety of textbooks about lots of topics. I was reading part of a psychology textbook about memory and there was a fascinating section on flashbulb memories. These are very vivid memories of very dramatic events in our lives. For example, 9/11 is a flashbulb memory for many people.
This made me flip through my own file of flashbulb memories. It’s almost as if they are a stack of postcards in my mind. I can see each one clearly. They include our wedding, holding our babies for the first time, giving our first puppy a bath, leaving our old house for the last time, a night when we stood outside and could clearly see the Milky Way, and lots of travel memories. There are also sad or upsetting memories: falling through a dock holding my infant son, funerals, opening the front door to see my son holding a giant snake, and times when family members were injured. I try not to look at those snapshots very often!
It’s fascinating that our brains store these memories as still photos. And they are indeed very vivid to me, so much so that I can see a lot of detail in them.
What are your flashbulb memories?
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This is very interesting, I guess I never thought of it. Yours reminded me of some of mine as well. My first date, going with my parents for the first time to an amusement park, spending time at my great aunt’s house. Of course, there is a mixture of good and bad. I remember sitting at my dad’s funeral, my mother being handed the American flag at my brother’s memorial, looking at photos on the collage I created for my mother’s funeral.
Have studies been done on whether people block out flashbulb memories, say if it is too traumatic or sad?
Travel memories make up a lot of my flashbulb moments, perhaps because most of them are happy or because I write about them. Swimming with stingrays in Bora Bora and watching a pride of lions sleeping are two that come to mind.
My daughters and I once took a cooking class together where the instructor held a bowl full of angel food cake batter over our heads. It doesn’t drip! We had so much fun; that’s tucked into my brain as a lightbulb memory.
That’s a really neat one!
This was a fascinating way to look at it. I have a memory like that of a hotel in Paris where Bruce Springsteen always stays.
Oh too many. What’s interesting is that we often remember them wrong–adding details over time that makes the memory better or worse than the real event.
So many flashbulb moments from throughout my life. They usually pop up in my dreams.