Rumination on Memory and Emotion, Part 6: Flashbulb Memory and Mood Congruence
Several studies have shown that strong emotions help humans retain memories. But, does emotional significance aid in their accuracy or stability over time? In 1977, Brown and Kulik coined “flashbulb memory” for moments that are so emotionally significant that they are vividly recalled years later with complete detail and confidence (originally studied by Colgrove in 1899). The memories of these emotionally arousing and sometimes consequential events can often include details about what the person was doing at the time of the event, how they felt, and where they were. Examples of these types of memories include remembering the 9/11 attacks, giving birth, a college graduation, or a death in the family. “People often believe that such memories have the quality of a photograph taken at the moment they experienced the event, and they believe with high confidence that these memories are accurate. However, recent research has shown that although flashbulb memories are more likely to be retained than the memory of an everyday event, they are not always accurate. [first described in 1977 by U.S. psychologists Roger Brown and James Kulik (1940) in their study of people’s recollection of public events, such as U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s assassination].” (American Psychological Association, APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d., unpaginated, unauthored) Flashbulb memory research demonstrates that despite the increased likelihood of retaining this type of memory long-term, as well as the confidence people have in their recollection, these memories are subject to inaccuracies and decay over time. Emotion can aid in the long-term recollection of emotionally arousing events, but the accuracy of said memories is not guaranteed. Emotion can also dictate when certain memories are more likely to be recalled.
The mood congruence effect (Bower 1) refers to the phenomenon in which people tend to recall memories that are consistent with their current emotional state. For example, people are more likely to retrieve positive memories when feeling happy and negative memories when feeling dysphoric. This pattern may be helpful when experiencing positive mood states, but can prove detrimental if someone is clinically depressed. Mood congruence supports a vicious cycle of experiencing a negative mood state and recalling memories that reinforce it. People with depression possess an unconscious bias toward the retrieval of depressing memories, resulting in rumination about memories that strengthen their current feelings: rendering depressed individuals virtually unable to pull themselves out of it. Thinking about mood congruence, Howe and Malone conducted an experiment in 2011 studying depression’s effects on memory. They supplied participants (who have a diagnosis of major depression and a control group without depression) with positive, neutral, negative, and depression-relevant lists of words. Interestingly, Howe and Malone found that participants with major depressive disorder falsely recalled significantly more words related to depression than the control group, showing “that there are clear mood congruence effects for depression on false memory performance.” (Howe, Malone 1) Not only do feelings elicit congruent memories, but in extreme cases like depression, feelings can modulate the perception of memories that were initially encoded outside the highly emotional confines of flashbulb memory.
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“APA Dictionary of Psychology.” American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association. Accessed December 6, 2021. https://dictionary.apa.org/.
Bower, Gordon H. “Mood and Memory.” American Psychologist 36, no. 2 (1981): 129–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.36.2.129.
Howe, Mark L., and Catherine Malone. “Mood-Congruent True and False Memory: Effects of Depression.” Memory 19, no. 2 (2011): 192–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2010.544073.