If Barack Obama is elected president, will the night of his election linger in people’s memories like other momentous events in American history, such as the landing on the moon, the assassination of JFK, or the events of 9/11? In the parlance of memory research the latter three events all generated “flashbulb memories” in millions of people who witnessed these epoch-changing milestones on television or learned the news by radio or from another person. Would Obama’s election do the same?

A flashbulb memory is an unusually vivid and detailed memory that you have in response to an event of great significance, whether historical or personal. The event invariably involves surprise and a strong emotional response. You remember where you were, what you were doing, and who you were with when you heard the news. Unlike other more conventional memories, your memory goes into a “Now Print” mode, as if it were taking a snapshot of everything in the immediate surroundings and any actions taking place at that moment. Although years and even decades may go by, and all other events from that day or even that time period may fade from memory, your flashbulb memory retains an extraordinary clarity of vision and degree of detail. Originally, Brown and Kulik, the developers of the concept, claimed that these memories were also remarkably accurate, since they were like photographic or iconic recreations of the event. Subsequent researchers, after the Challenger disaster and 9/11, among other major events, collected memory data from people right after the events and then a year later went back to these same individuals to ask for their “flashbulb memories.” Even though people did indeed retain powerful visual and emotional memories, they were nowhere near as accurate as the researchers or the rememberers expected. Subsequent conversations and the endless exposure to the events through the media might have interfered with and changed whatever the original snapshots may have preserved. Still, the emotional power of the memory lingered.

What will be the emotional effect on the millions of viewers across this land if the first African-American is elected president almost 150 years after the end of slavery? As we listen to his victory speech, will grandparents, parents, and children turn to each and say, “Remember this evening for the rest of your lives”? In each of these viewers’ memories, will powerful bolts of lightening ignite that will sear that moment in their psyches for generations yet to come?