Flashbulb And Factual Memories: The Case Of Rabin's Assassination, Appl. Cogn. Psycho. Bookmark and Share

Abstract: Similarities and differences between factual memories (FTM) and flashbulb memories (FBM) of the assassination of Israel's Prime Minister, Itzhak Rabin, were explored. About two weeks after the assassination 61 Israeli students filled out a questionnaire which focused on the event and the circumstances in which they had first learned about it. About 11 months later they filled out again the same questionnaire (...) two questionnaires uncovered decrements of about 25% in FTM accuracy, and about 36% in FBM consistency. The data seem to support the hypothesis that FTM and FBM of traumatic public events are encoded together; perhaps by the same memory mechanism.