Measurement issues in the study of Flashbulb memories

Measurement models have carried significant assumptions – either explicit or implicit – about the nature and inclusion of FBMs in the domain of autobiographical memory. The chapter compares the dimensional (Latent Trait Analysis) and categorical (Latent Class Analysis) measurement models of FBM and shows that dimensional models fit well with ordinary autobiographical data, while FBMs are better modelled through a categorical approach. The adoption of a taxonomic model to a large dataset on the September 11th attacks provides empirical support to the idea that FBMs represent a discontinuity in the field of autobiographical memory, and lead to important conclusions on their special nature.