Remembering terrorist attacks: Evolution over time

The present study aims to analyse the effect of the passage of time on the phenomenological characteristics of the memory of a traumatic event of social relevance. The terrorist attack that took place in Barcelona (Spain) in August 2017 was taken as the traumatic event. A priori, this event meets the criteria to produce a flashbulb memory (level of surprise, consequentiality and emotional activation). A total of 364 memories from different individuals (78% women and a mean age of 20 years) were studied at five different time points, between September 2017 and December 2018, using the CCFRA/PQAM questionnaire. The results show that the memories only comply with the characteristics usually associated with flashbulb memories in the medium term (about 7 months after the events). These characteristics do not appear in a clear way immediately and are lost just over a year after the event. Therefore, the passage of time seems to have a great influence on the characteristics of memories of violent events, such as terrorist attacks. However, this influence may depend more on the relevance given to the event than on the elapsed time, as it is the relevance that determines the number of subsequent recalls, influencing the maintenance of the memory.

How did you hear the news? The role of traditional media, social media, and personal communication in flashbulb memory

Flashbulb memories are at the intersection of public and private event memory. We investigated whether the source of news (traditional media, social media, or another person) shaped how people remembered learning of an event. Individuals were asked how they learned of Osama bin Laden’s assassination immediately after the event and 7, 42, 224, or 365 days later. Initial memory reports from those who learned from traditional media showed enhanced phenomenological features (i.e., a sense of recollection and vividness) relative to those who learned from social media or from another person. Both phenomenological and metacognitive (i.e., belief in the memory’s accuracy) features of memory reports decreased over time; however, there were no differences as a function of source. Consistency of the memory reports did not differ as a function of time or source. Although sources differed as a function of social group salience, these differences did not seem to influence memory.