Hypnotizability, preference for an imagic cognitive style, and memory creation in hypnosis

Article Abstract:

Hypnosis has been described as a process in which an individual detaches from critical judgement to indulge in fantasy, but without totally abandoning critical judgement. Individuals are known to vary in their reaction to hypnosis, and those who are most readily hypnotizable may be categorized as 'fantasy-prone personalities'. It has been proposed that memory can be modified through hypnosis and a sort of 'pseudomemory' of a specific event can be planted in an individual who is highly hypnotizable. The results of previous research have indicated that about half of all subjects classified as highly hypnotizable will believe that a suggested memory is an event that has actually occurred. The implications of this effect have significance from a clinical viewpoint, as well as a forensic one, and may be applied to legal issues. To test this hypothesis, which asserts that the memory of some individuals may be 'contaminated' or tampered with, 32 subjects who were selected on the basis of their ability to be hypnotized using the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale were given a hypnotic suggestion of a particular event. Eight subjects were considered low hypnotizables, 13 were moderate, and 11 were considered highly hypnotizable. All the subjects were also given the Preference for an Imagic Cognitive Style (PICS) test, which measured nonhypnotic factors, and the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), which measured response to suggestion. The scores of those who were highly or moderately-highly susceptible were comparable; about 45 percent of the subjects in each of these groups believed that the pseudomemory was a real memory. None of those in the group that was classified as low hypnotizable incorporated the suggestion into memory. Degree of hypnotic susceptibility combined with the PICS scores was more strongly associated with the creation of the pseudomemory than any other factors. The complexity of variables that influence the development of a pseudomemory within an individual is illustrated by these results. These findings also support the premise that in some individuals, a hypnotic suggestion that the individual will believe is a real memory may be implanted. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Analysis

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Hypnotizability and automaticity: toward a parallel distributed processing model of hypnotic responding

Article Abstract:

The parallel distributed processing model (PDP) posits that a network of connected processing units link sensory (information travelling along nerve path to brain) input and automatic responses, which are moderated by excitatory (positive) and inhibitory (negative) unit strength levels. A PDP-related task which demonstrates verbal automaticity (effortless, fast and involuntary processing) is the Stroop color-naming test, which entails sets of congruent and incongruent trials. For example, in a congruent trial, when the word blue is presented in blue ink both word-reading and color-naming pathways increase excitatory activation of blue response units. On an incongruent trial, the word blue would be presented in red ink so that the word-reading stimulus would be inhibited by the color-naming processing units. Since hypnotic suggestions are usually conveyed verbally, a study was conducted to see whether high- and low-hypnotizability subjects differ in the automaticity with which they process verbal information. Twenty-seven subjects screened by various laboratory tests designed to assess hypnotic susceptibility were categorized into one of three groups of nine subjects each: low, moderate, and high hypnotizability. Groups were then compared on Stroop automaticity performance. The highly hypnotizable group demonstrated significantly more automaticity in terms of quicker reaction times to congruent trials. However, they also demonstrated greater discrepancies between reaction times of congruent and incongruent trials than either the low or moderate groups. Results indicate that highly hypnotizable individuals have greater verbal connection strengths than low hypnotizable subjects, and may process information in a way which leads to stronger involuntary responses to verbal hypnotic suggestion. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Reports, Physiological aspects, Human information processing, Hypnotic susceptibility

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Selective hypnotic amnesia: is it a successful attempt to forget or an unsuccessful attempt to remember?

Article Abstract:

One of the most interesting hypnotic phenomena is seen when hypnotized subjects are unable to remember information, as hypnotically suggested to them, until they are provided with a particular cue. This is called suggested hypnotic amnesia, and proponents of the inattention hypothesis believe that it occurs when hypnotized subjects actively ignore normal retrieval cues until they are presented with a prearranged cue for retrieval. To test the inattention hypothesis, two experiments were designed. In experiment one, 72 college students were divided into two groups. Subjects in both groups were repeatedly presented with a list of words separated into four categories, until the list was memorized. It was then suggested to them that they would forget all the words in one of the categories until they were presented with a certain cue. It was found that hypnotized subjects forgot the targeted words, while recall for other words was excellent and was even organized by category. In experiment two, 50 college students underwent the same learning task as in experiment one, and subjects were subdivided into one of three conditions in which the time between hypnotic suggestion and amnesia trial (immediate, 10-second delay, 60 second-delay) was varied. Results were similar to experiment one under all conditions. The findings provide evidence that hypnotic amnesia involves a failure to remember rather than a successful attempt to forget information. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Testing

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