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Spontaneous Recovery of Memory During Posthypnotic Amnesia

1983; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 31; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00207148308406625

1744-5183

John F. Kihlstrom, Randolph D. Easton, Ronald E. Shor,

Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function

Abstract Repeated testing of posthypnotic amnesia indicates that some Ss, initially responsive to the suggestion, show appreciable recovery of memory before the pre-arranged signal is given to cancel the amnesia. Comparison of Ss who received 2 successive memory tests during amnesia with others who received only a single test preceded by a distracting activity indicated that the recovery effect was attributable to the passage of time rather than to prior testing. There were wide individual differences in the extent of recovery, with some Ss maintaining a fairly dense amnesia on the second test. Those Ss who maintained amnesia were more hypnotizable, and showed a denser initial amnesia, than those who breached it. An analysis of subjective reports lent credence to the notion of partial response among some hypnotizable Ss who fail to meet a standard criterion of complete amnesia, and pseudoamnesia among some insusceptible Ss who appear to pass it. Some Ss reported voluntarily engaging in cognitive activity designed to induce forgetting, but these reports were related to neither the Occurrence of initial amnesia nor its persistence. A failure of memory which reflects momentary disorientation upon transition from one mental state to another should be conceptually distinguished from a reversible amnesia initiated by hypnotic suggestion.