PSYB57H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Wax Tablet, Wax Paper, Cognitive Psychology
Document Summary
Flashbulb memories: many theorists argue that despite memories being schematic, there is one particular type of memory that is permanent. 1970s, asked 80 harvard undergraduates to recall the circumstances under which they heard the news. Just press the print button and your brain will store a faithful reproduction of everything in the scene, including the context in which the experience occurred. In other words, they are highly detailed memory traces: the sequence that brown and kulik proposed has five stages. First, the stimulus event is tested for "surprisingness. " If it"s completely ordinary, we will pay no attention to it: however, if the event is extraordinary (as assassinations generally are), then we will pay very close attention to it. Finally, in the fifth stage we tell and retell these accounts to other people (varying in elaboration): the amount of time we spend telling people about the event is dependent on ho surprising/consequential the event was.
