High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A flashbulb memory is a highly detailed, exceptionally vivid `snapshot` of the moment and circumstances in which a piece of surprising and consequential (or emotionally arousing) news was heard. Flashbulb memory is an appropriate name for the phenomenon in that it suggests surprise, an indiscriminate illumination, and brevity. The name is inappropriate as an actual photograph is indiscriminate and preserves everything within its scope. Flashbulb memories, in actuality, are only somewhat indiscriminate and are far from complete. Evidence has shown that although people are highly confident in their memories, the details of the memories can be forgotten.