many problems with assessing gender differences found in the research into this topic. The clearest is that it is heavily reliant on self-reporting of events. Inaccuracy of findings could result from biased questions or participants misremembering. There is no way to completely verify the accuracy of accounts given by the subjects in a study. Additionally, there are many indications that eye-witness memory can often be fallible. Emotion does not seem to improve memory performance in a situation that involves weapons. Eyewitnesses remember fewer details about perpetrators a weapon is involved in an event (Pickel, 2009). Accuracy in these situations is compromised by a phenomenon known as the weapon focus effect. Further complicating matters is the time frame in which people are surveyed in relation to the event as many studies survey people well after the events. Thus, there is a validity issue with much of the research into flashbulb memory in general, as well as any apparent gender differences. Improvement A number of studies have found that flashbulb memories are formed immediately after a life changing event happens or when news of the event is relayed. Although additional information about the event can then be researched or learned, the extra information is often lost in memory due to different encoding processes. A more recent study, examining effects of the media on flashbulb memories for the September 11, 2001 attacks, shows that extra information may help retain vivid flashbulb memories. Although the researchers found that memory for the event decreased over time for all participants, looking at images had a profound effect on participants memory. Those who said they saw images of the September 11th attacks immediately retained much more vivid images 6-months later than those who said they saw images hours after they heard about the attacks. The latter participants failed to encode the images with the original learning of the event. Thus, it may be the images themselves that lead some of the participants to recall more details of the event. Graphic images may make an individual associate more with the horror and scale of a tragic event and hence produce a more elaborate encoding mechanism. Furthermore, perhaps looking at images may help individuals retain vivid flashbulb memories months, and perhaps even years, after an event occurs. Controversy: special mechanism hypothesis The special-mechanism hypothesis has been the subject of considerable discussion in recent years, with some authors endorsing the