Emotion + cognition

• What is the theory and what are the two studies?

  FBM - highly detailed, vivid memory of a moment where emotions are heightened therefore are highly accurate and last for ages. Are described as a 'snap shot' of a picture as they are encoded into the brain like a photo.

  
  

  FBM happens when emotional arousal occurs making the event important and linking to the amygdala (regulates emotions), therefore encoded memories at a deeper level.

  
  

  Brown + Kullik 1977

  
  

  Schaefer 2011
• what to mention in the intro?

  emotion = intense mental state about something, they are usually private and are hard to define due to emotions not being tangible. Emotion is best when being observed due to facial expressions.

  
  

  FBM Characteristics: OIPOOA

  O - ongoing event

  I - informant (How they found out).

  P - place.

  O - own affect.

  O - others affect.

  A - Aftermath.
• Brown + Kullik 1977

  Aim - investigate if significant events can create FBM.

  
  

  Procedure - 80 American participants (40 Caucasian and 40 African-American). Given a questionnaire that tested memories of 10 major events - 9 being assassinations of well-known American individuals e.g., John F Kennedy, Malcom X and Martin Luther King.

  
  

  Used a list made from this to create a memory questionnaire which asked participants 5 questions:

  1) Where were you?

  2) What time of the day?

  3) How did you learn?

  4) What were you doing?

  5) Who were you with?

  
  

  Results - Memories of events were detailed with all questions being answered.

  - John F Kennedy = led to the most FBM with 90% of participants recalling this.

  - African americans = recalled more civil rights leaders, 75% of black participants remembered compared to 33% white.

  
  

  - For the last question asked on a self-selected FBM = most participants recalled a parents death or a relative.

  
  

  Conclusion - FBM are different than normal memories, as it allows for vivid details to be remembered. There is a difference in the importance of memories between black and white participants due to cultural differences and relevance.

  
  

  Critical thinking:

  +

  Ecological validity - FBM is common and happens to everyone. They are also difficult to investigate therefore questionnaires where participants can expand on answers.

  
  

  -

  self-report questionnaire = might not be accurate.

  Low temporal validity - 1977, old, and asked questions about individuals who have been dead for a while. Now days media would be a bigger influence.
• Schaefer 2011

  Aim - investigate if memories of the 9/11 terrorist attack are influenced by reception context - whether people heard the news from TV or in person.

  
  

  Procedure - 38 University students were asked to free recall when they heard the news 28 hours after the event and 6 months later.

  Divided into groups:

  1) immediate viewing - saw the event on live TV.

  2) delayed viewing - saw the event on TV hours after the event after being told by someone else.

  
  

  Results were coded into 9 topics = Time, location, what they were doing, informant, others, clothes, first thought, feelings, and what they did after.

  
  

  Findings - Delayed viewings of images of the event resulted in less elaborate details of the event 6 months later, compared to the immediate group.

  
  

  Conclusion - Receiving news of the event on TV does not make you remember the news more. However, info learned through the media was more reliable and detailed. Therefore being exposed to emotional information from the media enhances reliability over time.

  
  

  Critical thinking:

  +

  Participants were tested 28 hours and 6 months later, showing how memory can change and be distorted as well as giving proof for FBM.

  Responses were coded.

  
  

  -

  Free recall which was good - however they may have been prompted by researchers to remember.
• How does schemas, reconstructive memory and FBM link?

  Schemas help fit in gaps in memories, this may be incorrect therefore are seen to be reconstructed. FBM can also be reconstructed meaning those memories can be reliable or not.
• Evaluation of FBM theory?

  +

  The theory has lots of research which shows the importance of emotion in memories.

  
  

  -

  Difficult to test the accuracy of FBMs years after the event as we don't know for certain all the facts due to it being personal to the person.

  
  

  Emotion is also subjective therefore it is difficult to test and research.
• What are the studies i will use for an ethics question? and the 8 ethics? what is the issue of an ethics question?

  Tversky + Kahnman - Psychological harm. Had confidentiality of participants and names and details were withheld, they had the right to withdraw although due to the sensitive topic they might have felt uncomfortable to withdraw.

  
  

  Loftus + Palmer - Psychological harm from car crash, had deception (filler questions), they did give consent although the aims were not fully told so they didn't give consent to everything in the study.

  
  

  Consent, privacy, anonymity, right to withdraw, deception, debrief, psychological/physical harm, confidentiality.

  
  

  -> is the rights of the participants more important than the researchers? Is the cost vs benefit bigger for researchers or participants.