Flashbulp memories

September 17, 2001 6:35 AM

Flashbulp memories "When emotionally powerful events take place in a person's life a mental 'flashbulb' will preserve this scene along with completely mundane and unremarkable details." Other than the attack on WTC, which events has coursed a flashbulb effect in you?
posted by Armarius (8 comments total)

The image if the Concorde trailing that huge plume of fire, still in the air, doomed. Not at all dissimilar, really, to the WTC, except in scale. Human beings, still alive but not for long, trapped when some modern technological marvel hits the wall in the worst possible way, not a thing they can do, can't even run.
posted by jfuller at 7:03 AM on September 17, 2001

My divorce "trial."
posted by Postroad at 7:09 AM on September 17, 2001

The Challlenger disaster in 1986 when the space shuttle blew up. I will never forget that day. The image of the hallway at my high school when I first heard about it sticks in my mind as well as the image of the shuttle spiraling upward, then leaking a little smoke and then exploding.
posted by locombia at 7:26 AM on September 17, 2001

Actually recent cognition research has shown that these 'flashbulb' memories while perceived as valid and highly detailed are actually not any different from ordinary memories. Typically details are confabulated and no more accurate than other memories unless there is some strong personal involvement in the event. The previous instances studied were the shuttle explosion and JFK.
posted by srboisvert at 8:12 AM on September 17, 2001

when they took bert parks off of the miss america pagent.
posted by billybob at 9:14 AM on September 17, 2001

The image of Mt. St. Helens boiling, with an ash plume towering over it.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 9:54 AM on September 17, 2001

I also say the Challenger explosion.
posted by SisterHavana at 12:14 PM on September 17, 2001

I remember the Challenger explosion, but I don't remember what date it was. In fact I'd be a little fuzzy on the year if it hadn't already been mentioned.

I expect I'll remember 9/11/2001 for a long, long time, though.
posted by kindall at 12:36 PM on September 17, 2001