A Test of Flashbulb Memory: Tuesday, September 11, 2001

2001年9月11日星期二，恐怖分子在波士顿、华盛顿特区和纽瓦克劫持飞机，撞向世界贸易中心、五角大楼和宾夕法尼亚州农村的一片田地，袭击了美国。2001年9月11日星期二立即被归类为一小群“臭名昭著”的日期，包括1941年12月7日、1963年11月22日、1968年4月4日、1986年1月28日和1995年4月19日。这些日子都标志着美国发生的悲剧和改变历史的事件。此外，大多数目睹了这些日子的美国人会告诉你，“我清楚地记得听到这个消息时我在哪里”。认知心理学家把这种对重要事件有特殊记忆的现象称为“闪光灯记忆”。对于外行人来说，闪光灯的记忆是独一无二的，因为它们比其他记忆更生动，更容易被回忆起来。然而，对闪光灯记忆的研究表明，它们并不特别。相反，研究表明闪光灯记忆和其他记忆一样容易受到重构过程的影响。然而，由于显而易见的原因，对闪光灯记忆的研究是有限的。此外，自20世纪50年代的认知革命以来，这个国家几乎没有发生过能与9月11日星期二的事件相提并论的事件。如果有一个事件应该归入“闪光灯”的范畴，那就是这个了。因此，这个项目的目的是评估人们对9月11日星期二事件的记忆。对事件的记忆、对记忆的信心和情绪反应将立即（即大约在事件发生后一周）进行评估，并在11个月和23个月后再次进行评估。研究中的假设是，伴随强烈的情感和情绪的重要事件，是否在很长一段时间内被准确地回忆起来，或者这些事件的记忆是否容易被扭曲。

On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, terrorists struck the United States by hijacking planes in Boston, Washington D.C., and Newark and crashing them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in rural Pennsylvania. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 has immediately been classified with a small group of "infamous" dates, including December 7, 1941, November 22, 1963, April 4, 1968, January 28, 1986, and April 19, 1995. Each of these dates mark tragic and history-altering events in America. Furthermore, most Americans who witnessed these days will tell you, "I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news". Cognitive psychologists have referred to the phenomenon of exceptional memory for salient events as "flashbulb memory". To the layperson, flashbulb memories are unique in that they are more vivid and more easily recalled than other memories. However, research on flashbulb memory has suggested that they are not special. Instead, research suggests that flashbulb memories are susceptible to the same restructuring processes as other memories. However, research on flashbulb memory is limited for obvious reasons. Further, since the cognitive revolution of the 1950's, this country has witnessed very few events that compare to the events of Tuesday, September 11. If ever there was an event that should fall under the category of "flashbulb" this one should be it. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to assess people's memory for the events of Tuesday, September 11. Memory for events, confidence in memory, and emotional reaction will be assessed immediately (i.e., approximately one week following the events) and will be assessed again 11 and 23 months later. The hypothesis under investigation is whether salient events, which are accompanied by strong affect and emotion, are recalled with accuracy over a long period of time, or whether memory of these events is susceptible to distortion.