Hypnosis and Memory Illusions: An Investigation Using the Deese/Roediger and McDermott Paradigm

Abstract

Our research used the Deese/Roediger and McDermott paradigm [1] to examine the effects of hypnosis on memory. The paradigm yielded a high rate of false recognition (>.70), regardless of whether participants were hypnotized or not. Hypnotized (N = 21) and non-hypnotized (N = 20) participants reported high false recognition rates and were very confident in their remembrances, independent of their recognition accuracy and their level of hypnotic suggestibility (medium vs. high). Although our results provide no support for the proposition that hypnosis is a viable memory enhancement procedure, hypnosis did not impair recognition above and beyond the non-hypnotic condition.Despite more than two decades of research, the use of hypnosis as a recall enhancement procedure remains controversial. On the one hand, perhaps the majority of researchers in the field of hypnosis and memory [e.g., 2-6] have expressed great concern about the potential of hypnosis to increase false memories and unwarranted confidence in remembrances. As Kihlstrom notes [2], concerns 3

The Death of Princess Diana: The Effects of Memory Enhancement Procedures on Flashbulb Memories

“…Participant ratings indicated that the average participant scored close to the mid range of the scale, anchored as "somewhat hypnotized" (M = 2.79, SD = .79, Range 1-5). In another study [69] we found virtually identical scores (M = 2.81, SD = .98) on the same item reported by medium hypnotizable participants who passed 4-8 suggestions on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Suggestibility [70]. Medium suggestible subjects represent approximately 70% of the population [70].…”

How hypnosis happens: new cognitive theories of hypnotic responding

“…There is strong evidence that they do, for instance, in research on hypnotic hypermnesia and hypnotic pseudomemory (e.g., Barnier & McConkey, 1992;McConkey, Barnier, & Sheehan, 1998;Nogrady, McConkey, & Perry, 1985). Perhaps of most relevance, Neuschatz, Lynn, Benoit, and Fite (2003) tested high and medium hypnotizable participants in hypnotic and nonhypnotic conditions within Roediger and McDermott's (1995) Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) memory illusion paradigm, in which participants learn lists of semantically related words (pillow, blanket, tired, bedroom), and then (like Whittlesea & Williams, 2001) are later asked to judge whether studied and unstudied words are familiar. Neuschatz et al (2003) reported that highs and mediums in both hypnosis and waking conditions showed high rates of false recognition of unstudied, but critical words like "sleep" (they did not test low hypnotizable subjects).…”

Hypnosis and false memories.

“…To date, only a few additional studies have examined the effects of warnings in the context of hypnosis. In Neuschatz, Lynn, Benoit, and Fite (2002), participants first encoded DRM lists, after which they were informed of the vulnerability of memory to error and of the potential dangers of hypnosis in retrieving inaccurate memories. They then participated in hypnosis and completed a recognition test.…”

“…In the light of the aforementioned studies (Burgess & Kirsch, 1999; Dasse et al, 2015; Neuschatz et al, 2002), it seemed useful to investigate further the question of the influence of attitudes and hypnotic instructions on the creation of false memories, particularly as there is so little research dealing with this issue in the DRM paradigm. The first aim of the current study was to determine whether attitudes toward hypnosis affect the production of memory illusions.…”

“…The variability of findings regarding warnings in the creation of false memories in a hypnotic context (Dasse et al, 2015; Neuschatz et al, 2002) led us to compare the effect of hypnotic instruction at encoding and at retrieval. If the instruction to focus on the words in the lists affects the activation process, we would expect that reduction in false memories would be more marked when it is introduced at encoding rather than at retrieval (Gallo et al, 1997; McDermott & Roediger, 1998; Neuschatz et al, 2003).…”