Memory of the UK’s 2016 EU Referendum: The effects of valence on the long-term measures of a flashbulb memory.

Emotional public events, relative to non-emotional ones, are typically remembered more accurately, more vividly and with more confidence. Such memories are referred to as flashbulb memories. However, the majority of previous studies on this phenomenon have focused on negative public events and less is known about positive ones. The current study examined whether positive and negative public events were remembered in a similar manner by assessing individuals’ memory for the time when they learned the results of the UK’s 2016 Referendum on its European Union (EU) membership. Participants included UK residents who voted to ‘leave’ the EU in the referendum and found the event highly positive, UK residents who voted to ‘remain’ in the EU and found the event highly negative, and US residents who did not vote and found the event neutral. Data from a total of 845 participants were assessed at four time points over the course of 16 months. Growth curve modelling showed that differences in memory between Remain voters (who reported the highest levels of negative emotion) and Leave voters (who reported the highest levels of positive emotion) emerged over time. Specifically, Remain voters maintained higher levels of memory consistency than Leave voters, while Leave voters maintained higher levels of memory confidence than Remain voters. These results indicate that positive and negative public events are remembered differently, such that negative valence enhances memory accuracy, while positive valence results in overconfidence.