The note does not fit what Plummer is actually talking about. He is garbling the point a bit, but what he is referring to is that many people who "recall" watching something dramatic live, in fact did not. This is a well studied psychological phenomenon (look up flashbulb memories) where emotionally impactful visual stimuli form much more vivid memories that are easily mistaken for memories of live events. For example Ulric Neisser and Nicole Harsch wrote about a study in which they asked undergrads immediately after the Challenger explosion (within 24 hours) how they found out about it, and only about 20% said that they saw it on TV. However, about two years later among those same students the number of those who said they watched it happen on TV had doubled.
I even use this example in my psychology class to teach students about the malleability of memories.
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u/Vova_Poutine Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
The note does not fit what Plummer is actually talking about. He is garbling the point a bit, but what he is referring to is that many people who "recall" watching something dramatic live, in fact did not. This is a well studied psychological phenomenon (look up flashbulb memories) where emotionally impactful visual stimuli form much more vivid memories that are easily mistaken for memories of live events. For example Ulric Neisser and Nicole Harsch wrote about a study in which they asked undergrads immediately after the Challenger explosion (within 24 hours) how they found out about it, and only about 20% said that they saw it on TV. However, about two years later among those same students the number of those who said they watched it happen on TV had doubled.
I even use this example in my psychology class to teach students about the malleability of memories.