The flashbulb-like nature of memory for the first COVID-19 case and the impact of the emergency. A cross-national survey

Lanciano T 1 , Alfeo F 1 , Curci A 1 , Marin C 1 , D'Uggento AM 2 , Decarolis D 3 Show all authors , Öner S 4 , Anthony K 5 , Barzykowski K 6 , Bascón M 7 , Benavides A 8 , Cabildo A 8 , de la Mata-Benítez ML 7 , Ergen İ 9 , Filip K 6 , Gofman A 10 , Janssen SMJ 5 , Kai-Bin Z 11 , Markostamou I 12 , Matías-García JA 7 , Nourkova V 10 , Oleksiak S 6 , Santamaría A 7 , Szpunar K 8 , Taylor A 13 , Watson LA 14 , Zheng J 11

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
  • 2 Department of Economics and Finance, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
  • 3 Department of Humanities, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
  • 4 Department of Psychology, Kadir Has University, İstanbul, Turkey
  • 5 School of Psychology, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Semenyih, Malaysia
  • 6 Applied Memory Research Laboratory, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
  • 7 Laboratory of Human Activity, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Seville, Sevilla, Spain
  • 8 Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
  • 9 Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 10 Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
  • 11 Henan International Joint Laboratory of Psychological Science, Zhengzhou Normal University, Zhengzhou, People's Republic of China
  • 12 Division of Psychology, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
  • 13 School of Psychology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
  • 14 Center for Autobiographical Memory Research, Department of Psychology and Behavioural Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Memory, 2024 Feb;32(2):264-282.
PMID: 38315731 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2024.2310554

Abstract

Flashbulb memories (FBMs) refer to vivid and long-lasting autobiographical memories for the circumstances in which people learned of a shocking and consequential public event. A cross-national study across eleven countries aimed to investigate FBM formation following the first COVID-19 case news in each country and test the effect of pandemic-related variables on FBM. Participants had detailed memories of the date and others present when they heard the news, and had partially detailed memories of the place, activity, and news source. China had the highest FBM specificity. All countries considered the COVID-19 emergency as highly significant at both the individual and global level. The Classification and Regression Tree Analysis revealed that FBM specificity might be influenced by participants' age, subjective severity (assessment of COVID-19 impact in each country and relative to others), residing in an area with stringent COVID-19 protection measures, and expecting the pandemic effects. Hierarchical regression models demonstrated that age and subjective severity negatively predicted FBM specificity, whereas sex, pandemic impact expectedness, and rehearsal showed positive associations in the total sample. Subjective severity negatively affected FBM specificity in Turkey, whereas pandemic impact expectedness positively influenced FBM specificity in China and negatively in Denmark.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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