Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection
Published on: August 26, 2011
Snapshots from therapy: exploring operationalisations and ways of studying flashbulb memories for private events
Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen1, Dorthe Berntsen
1University of Aarhus, Denmark. dotho@akh.aaa.dk
Abstract:
A total of 13 clients (10 women and 3 men, mean age 32.85 years, SD 10.50) were interviewed after finishing group therapy, and 7 were re-interviewed 4-5 months later. The clients recounted all the specific episodes they remembered from the therapy. The memories were classified as flashbulb memories or non-flashbulb memories according to two different criteria: consistency and phenomenological clarity. Clients had flashbulb memories from therapy according to both operationalisations. Flashbulb memories according to a phenomenology-based operationalisation referred to more unusual episodes and more often to episodes associated with insight than non-flashbulb memories. The consistency operationalisation did not differentiate between flashbulb and non-flashbulb memories with respect to characteristics of the remembered events. Number of remembered episodes was positively related to the subjective evaluation of the therapy.
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