
Contributing Authors: Katherine Blackwell, MD, Lisa Rebecca Otto, Sarah Teed, MS, and Muneeb Hussain, MS
Date Uploaded onto Website: April 13, 2016
Overview: Many people vividly describe where they were and how they learned about Kennedy’s assassination or 9/11. However, research is elucidating the way that stress can influence memory formation and persistence and is also demonstrating that such “flashbulb memories” may not be as accurate as people think.
This session explores this topic using a short New Yorker article describing research into the effect of stress on the formation of memories. Further reviews on the topic highlight the complexity of this phenomenon and provide an opportunity to review relevant neuroscience related to memory formation.
Author Affiliations: Katherine Blackwell, MD is from the Yale School of Medicine. Lisa Rebecca Otto is a Master’s candidate and Sarah Teed and Muneeb Hussain are graduates of the Master’s Program in Neuroscience and Education at Teachers College of Columbia University. David Ross, MD, PhD and Ashley Walker, MD are the Contributing Editors for this publication. The National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative is a collaborative effort with AADPRT and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Council on Medical Education and Lifelong Learning and receives support from the NIH (R25 MH10107602S1) ©National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative.