Citation

Shapiro LR. Memory 2006; 14(2): 129-147.

Affiliation

Emporia State University, Psychology and Special Education, Emporia, KS 66801, USA. shapirol@emporia.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/09658210544000006

PMID

16484105

Abstract

Retention interval and rehearsal effects on flashbulb and event memory for 11th September 2001 (9/11) were examined. In Experiment 1, college students were assessed three times (Groups 1 and 2) or once (Group 3) over 11 weeks. In Experiment 2, three new groups assessed initially at 23 weeks (Group 4), 1 year (Group 5), or 2 years (Group 6) were compared at 1 year and at 2 years with subsamples of those assessed previously. No effects of retention interval length or rehearsal were found for flashbulb memory, which contained details at each assessment. Event memory, but not consistency, was detrimentally affected by long retention intervals, but improved with rehearsal. Recall was higher for the reception event than for the main events. Also, consistency from 1 day to 11 weeks, but not 1 year to 2 years, was higher for flashbulb memory than for event memory. Event recall was enhanced when respondents conceived of their memory as vivid, frozen, and encompassing a longer period of time. Positive correlations were found for event memory with confidence in accuracy and with rehearsal through discussion at 2 years.

Language: en