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Health & Fitness

Senior Moment: Happens in a Flash, Frozen in Time, Embedded for Life!

You probably have a flashbulb memory of 9/11. Where were you?





Senior Moment: Happens in a Flash, Frozen in Time, Embedded for Life! posted by Stan Lawson of Sequoia Senior Solutions  

I am walking in front of Younkers Department Store in Fort Dodge, IA. No one seems to be moving. There are small groups of people huddled together and some have their hand covering their mouth. Seems like I just see reactions but no facial features. That is my Flashbulb Memory of where I was when I heard President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

Guest blogger Karen Miller

I understand why it is labeled flashbulb memory, because my memory appears as if everyone around me is frozen in time. It is the effect you get when using a camera with flash. The result is a photographic still shot of that moment, in that day, when everything else was in motion.

Interesting, I do not recall anything prior to that time or afterwards. Because of my location, I know I was near where I worked.

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Birth of Flashbulb Memory

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 sparked the first scientific description of flashbulb memories. Harvard researchers Roger Brown and James Kulik became aware that people seemed to have vivid memories of where they were at the time they heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot.

Researchers questioned volunteers and followed the same people over time, asking them every few months or years to recall their memories of particular traumatic events, such as: Kennedy’s Assassination, Martin Luther King, Jr. death including the Challenger explosion, Princess Diana's death, and eventually, 9/11.

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I’m sure those who remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor have flashbulb memories, but they were not labeled as such and were not studied.

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Related article: Senior Care Memory Tips: Mem-o-ries are Made Like This

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These shocking events are embedded in our memory forever.

I chose not to show images of these catastrophes, you will have to recall your own memory if you want to see them again.

What about those details, are they real?

The researchers did note that certain details disappear from flashbulb memories, like the hairstyle of the teacher who answered the phone and gasped that Kennedy was dead. (I don’t remember any of that, but I’m sure my parents would have. I think age plays a role in the details captured and how it affects one. I was afraid, but those around me, older were hysterical.)

Researchers concluded that something was and is different about flashbulb memories making them resistant to erosion, most likely due to the shock and how one relates to the event.

Where were you on 9/11?

Amost any American old enough to remember 2001 has an answer to that question. Were you at the barber, getting groceries, in a classroom, at the office, in your living room or dorm room, or in traffic. . . it does not make any difference.

Wherever you were at that exact moment in time when you heard the news became embedded in your memory forever as a flashbulb memory.

But do we forget?

In the beginning researchers thought these memories were etched in our brain permanently. But flashbulb memories have turned out to be fallible, just like memories for more ordinary events.

We do not forget the fallen or the importance of the moment,but we forget the details surrounding the day.

Studies have found that while people feel very strongly that theirflashbulb memories are crystal-‐clear, the memories actually erode over time just like our memories of birthdays, getting a new car and other life events. 

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Related article: Senior Care Memory Tips: Have You Seen My Car?

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But when asked about one of these traumatic events, a memory, as we perceive it comes to life, just like it happened yesterday. And, that is very real to us.

It's hard to look back at an emotional event without coloring it with hindsight.

Some researchers feel people remember the event but are cloudy about remembering their emotions at the time of these events.

People tend to think the way they felt at the time of the event, is the same way they feel about it today. 

This is flawed because our emotions have changed, creating discrepancies in our memory and as a result we put our present feelings into the past.

It just happens. 

September 11, 2001

I was at work when a co-‐worker heard the news of the attack. I remember watching on her monitor when the first tower was burning. I knew it was coming down and went back to my desk. It was too difficult for me to watch and said some prayers.

P.S. Do you want to talk about your flashbulb memories?

Resources

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2349094/  

 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=911-‐memory-‐accuracy&page=2

For more great information, please come visit the blog at our Sequoia Senior Solutions website.

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