3. Similarities to “Flashbulb Memories”
Generate…
Vivid
Autobiographical
Extend in time
Affective component
Social aspects
◦ Memories include others
◦ Discussed with others
Compelling memory experience
4. Dissimilar
Flashbulbs INMI
Single retrieval End cues beginning
Limited number Many and variable
◦ Shared in a culture ◦ Across and within people
Distinctive trigger Triggers variable
Associated with By and large pleasant
trauma
6. Incidence Rate?
Most report high incidence
Halpern & Bartlett (2011)
◦ 41 diarists over 2 weeks 780 reports
◦ Range = 2-57
◦ Median = 1.7 per day
But do methods select for respondents and
reports?
Embed in other tasks to reduce salience
and social desirability
7. Verification?
Difficult to verify
Voluntary imagery
◦ Control stimuli
◦ Objective task
Does third note of Happy Birthday rise or fall?
Need correlates with INMI
Need to induce. How?
◦ Idiosyncratic, but…
◦ Exposure
◦ Musical characteristics
8. Possible Correlates?
Behavioral
◦ Effect on a second task
◦ Continuous measurement
Physiological
◦ Neural or peripheral
◦ Neural correlates of voluntary imagery
◦ Indices of repetition crucial
Long time spans will be a challenge
9. Veridical?
Rubin & Talarico (Psychological Sci, 2003)
FBs no more accurate or durable than other
memories
◦ Conflicts in memories among participants
10. How to measure veridicality in INMI?
External pitch or tempo measure
Consistency over repetitions
Congruence with recorded version
◦ Even NMs can match to recordings and be
somewhat consistent over time
◦ Production or choose pitch/tempo
11. Unique to Music?
Other temporally extended memories
◦ Verbal or experiential
H&B (2012)
◦ 9/20 surveyed reported word earworms
But only a few diary entries
◦ Did not repeat
◦ Sayings, movie quotes, cheer, advertisement
◦ None unpleasant
Design survey/diary to elicit these
12. Relationship to Pathology?
Hallucinations vs. imagery
Possible intermediate states
◦ Relation to aural and psychological issues
Important to distinguish wanted from
unwanted
For latter, behavioral and pharmacological
intervention
◦ Yellow Submarine #2: “This song is starting to annoy me and I
think I should memorize more words of it”.
◦ #4: “I like the song but I don't know the lyrics and it keeps
appearing in my head.”
13. Age and Cohort?
Priming
◦ Can increase with age
◦ Decline of inhibition
◦ So possible increase with age?
Cohort/Generation
◦ Continuous vs. periodic exposure to music
