More on Volitional Experiences and Breaching Posthypnotic Amnesia

Abstract

3 experimental conditions using a mock lie detector were employed to investigate further the type of manipulations that lead posthynotically amnesic Ss to breach their amnesia before the reversibility cue is given. 1 condition told Ss they were telling the truth, another that they were lying, and another only that the physiological apparatus could tell whether they were telling the truth. Ss in the "lie" condition breached more than Ss in the other 2 conditions, which did not differ. Ss who rated their recall as in their control (voluntary) were more likely to report more material after breaching manipulations than Ss who reported their recall as not in their control (involuntary). The results are discussed as they relate to breaching conditions and the voluntary/involuntary dimension.

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

“…Their evidence further suggests that volitional amnesiacs are more likely to breach amnesia in the face of pressure to do so. Subsequent evidence, though somewhat less clear, also indicates “that voluntary [subjects] are more likely to breach than are involuntary [subjects]” (Schuyler & Coe, 1989, p. 328). Given these results, one can only ask: What became of the volitional forgetters in our experiment?…”

An event-related potential investigation of posthypnotic recognition amnesia.

“…1Although Coe and his colleagues (Coe & Yashinski, 1985; Schuyler & Coe, 1981, 1989) have recorded skin conductance and other autonomic responses during the assessment of posthypnotic amnesia, these measures were not used as dependent measures to distinguish between learned versus unlearned material. Rather, these measures were designed to be part of a manipulation to induce anxiety and therefore breaching of amnesia, as participants believed that they were connected to a lie detector.…”