Otani Hajime, Kusumi Takashi, Kato Koichi, Matsuda Ken, Kern Rosalie P, Widner Robert, Ohta Nobuo
Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant 48859, USA.
Memory. 2005 Jan;13(1):6-20. doi: 10.1080/09658210344000495.
Flashbulb memories are vivid memories of the details surrounding the discovery of an emotional event. We investigated whether the nuclear accident that occurred in Japan in 1999 produced flashbulb memories among people who lived near the accident site. A questionnaire was distributed twice (approximately 3 weeks after the accident and 1 year later) to (1) the residents of the communities surrounding the accident site, (2) the students at a university near the accident site, and (3) the students at two universities far away from the accident site. Flashbulb memory holders were defined as those individuals who showed consistent memories between test and retest. The results indicated that only a small percentage of participants formed flashbulb memories. Further, no age-related decline was found. Flashbulb memories were distinguished by perfect or near perfect scores on four attributes: source, place, activity, and people. The results also indicated that the ratings on emotional reactions, personal consequentiality, and surprise did not differentiate between the flashbulb and non-flashbulb memory holders. In contrast, the flashbulb memory holders reported rehearsing more than the non-flashbulb memory holders. These results supported the notion that flashbulb memories are formed through rehearsal rather than at encoding. However, it is also possible that rehearsal was a result of the flashbulb memory.
闪光灯记忆是对围绕情感事件发现的细节的生动记忆。我们调查了1999年发生在日本的核事故是否在事故现场附近居住的人群中产生了闪光灯记忆。在事故发生后约3周和1年后，向（1）事故现场周边社区的居民、（2）事故现场附近一所大学的学生以及（3）两所远离事故现场的大学的学生发放了两次调查问卷。闪光灯记忆持有者被定义为在测试和重新测试之间表现出一致记忆的个体。结果表明，只有一小部分参与者形成了闪光灯记忆。此外，未发现与年龄相关的下降情况。闪光灯记忆在来源、地点、活动和人物这四个属性上的得分完美或接近完美。结果还表明，情感反应、个人关联性和惊讶程度的评分在闪光灯记忆持有者和非闪光灯记忆持有者之间没有差异。相比之下，闪光灯记忆持有者报告的复述次数比非闪光灯记忆持有者更多。这些结果支持了闪光灯记忆是通过复述而非编码形成的观点。然而，复述也有可能是闪光灯记忆的结果。
