When a flash is caught in a lab! An experimental approach to the investigation of flashbulb memories

In the present chapter we portray the state-of-art within FBM literature concerning the methodological approaches and the control procedures to assess a FBM and to establish if the ‘special quality’ of these memories exists and how may be captured. We provide a brief overview of the naturalistic approaches to FBM (retrospective recollections, surveys, longitudinal and/or cross-sectional designs), and of the few FBM experimental studies to circumscribe the phenomenon. We also present a new procedure used to assess autobiographical memory based upon implicit measures (autobiographical Implicit Association test; aIAT), which goes beyond traditional explicit FBM indicators of specificity, confidence, and consistency.