Abstract
Flashbulb memories (FBMs) are detailed recollections of the context in which people first heard about important events. The present study investigates three models of the formation and maintenance of FBM. Two models have previously been proposed in the literature (Brown & Kulik, 1977; Conway et al., 1994). A third model of FBM that integrates theories of FBM and recent developments in the field of emotions is proposed. The present study compares these three competing models by investigating the FBMs that Belgian citizens developed upon learning of the unexpected death of their king Baudouin. Structural equation modeling revealed that, as compared to the two previously proposed models, the third model, which takes into account emotional processes, better explains FBM.
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Research reported in this paper was supported by FRFC Grant 8.4510.94. from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research and by a grant from the Fonds de Développement Scientifique of the University of Louvain. It was also facilitated by the support granted by the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Paris, to the Consortium for European Research on Emotion (CERE).
—Accepted by previous editor, Geoffrey R. Loftus
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Finkenauer, C., Luminet, O., Gisle, L. et al. Flashbulb memories and the underlying mechanisms of their formation: Toward an emotional-integrative model. Mem Cogn 26, 516–531 (1998). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201160
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201160