Posthypnotic amnesia: Suggestions of an active process in dissociative phenomena.

Abstract

A retroactive inhibition design was used to examine the process of posthynotic amnesia. The results supported the notion that "forgotten" material is as available to amnesic subjects at some level as it is to nonamnesic subjects. Further, so-called forgetting appears to be the result of an active process, that is, something the subject does. Implications for understanding dissociative phenomena in general are discussed.This study was submitted by Clifford Graham in partial fulfillment of requirements for the master of arts degree in psychology, California State University, Fresno.Requests for reprints should be sent to W.

Directed forgetting and posthypnotic amnesia: Information processing and social contexts.

“…Huesmann et al (1987) recognized the interesting findings that some hypnosis investigators have called the paradox of posthypnotic amnesia, namely, “the to-be-remembered items, which subjects report not being able to recall, still remain active in the cognitive system” (p. 36). Examples of the paradox are (a) Subjects relearn a skill more rapidly after being posthypnotically amnesic for it than if they had never learned it (Hull, 1933), (b) retroactive interference in list learning is not reduced by suggesting PHA for the interpolated list (Coe, Basden, Basden, & Graham, 1976; Graham & Patton, 1968), and (c) the priming effect of one presentation of a word on its subsequent generation in a word association task is not changed by suggesting PHA for the word (Kihlstrom, 1980).…”

A process model of posthypnotic amnesia

“…Fifty years ago, Hull (1933) and his colleagues showed that relearning of a skill that hypnotic subjects were told to forget occurred more rapidly than if the skill had never been learned. More recently, Graham and Patton (1968) and Coe, Basden, Basden, and Graham (1976) have reported that retroactive interference in list learning is not reduced at all by telling a hypnotized subject to forget the interpolated list. Similarly, the priming effect of one presentation of a word on its subsequent generation in a word association task is not reduced by hypnotic amnesia for the word (Kihlstrom, 1980).…”

Hypnosis and psychopathology: Replacing old myths with fresh metaphors.

“…It is important to note before continuing that Janet's concept of dissociation was laid to rest concerning its viability in accounting for posthypnotic amnesia. A series of studies beginning with those of White and Shevach (1942) have failed to support the notion of functional ablation or repressionlike processes in posthypnotic amnesia (Coe, Basden, Basden, & Graham, 1976;Coe, Baugher, Krimm, & Smith, 1976;Hilgard & Hommel, 1961;O'Connell, 1966; Hammer, Note 1; Pettinati & Evans, Note 2). Because such sophisticated methods for testing hysterical amnesia do not exist, and because of its similarity to posthypnotic amnesia, these studies could be taken to point out the inappropriateness of a repressionlike process in hysterical amnesia as well.…”