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

Abstract

Subjects in 2 experiments (ns = 72 and 50) learned a 16-item, 4-category word list and were then administered hypnotic suggestions to be amnesic for all the words in 1 of the categories. Even when selective amnesia was completely successful, subjects in both experiments revealed a high level of recall for words not targeted for amnesia; moreover, these words were recalled in a highly organized, category-by-category fashion. Evidently, attention to relevant retrieval (i.e., organizational) cues does not oblige recall of words targeted for amnesia. Forgetting in the presence of such powerful mnemonic cues seems to characterize hypnotic amnesia and some spontaneous forms of forgetting as well. We argue that mnemonic lapses of this kind represent a failed attempt to remember rather than a successful attempt to forget.

Retrieval Inhibition in Directed Forgetting and Posthypnotic Amnesia

“…These results have since been partially replicated; Davidson and Bowers (1991) reported that a posthypnotic amnesia suggestion directed toward one category in a four-category list was rnore effective with high susceptible than with low susceptible subjects. Thus, as in the Coe et al (1989) experiments, highs, in contrast with lows, were able to selectively exclude from recall a portion of the items they have studied.…”

“…One possibility is that subjects do not formulate effective retrieval plans for F-items, a possibility supported by results showing that directed forgetting instructions disrupt organization and reduce the recall of both incidentally and intentionally studied items (e.g., Geiselman, Bjork, et al, 1983). Davidson and Bowers (1991) cued their subjects to forget one of the categories afier the entire list had been learned. Because postinput cuing does not yield significant levels of directed forgetting (see Bjork, 1989 for a review), Davidson and Bowers's results also support the conclusion that different processes underlie directed forgetting and posthypnotic amnesia.…”

Dissociation theories of hypnosis.

“…The specificity of hypnotically induced amnesia is nicely illustrated in a study reported by Davidson and Bowers (1991). In this study, a suggestion was given to participants to forget 4 of 16 words that had been learned.…”

Memory performance among women with parental abuse histories: Enhanced directed forgetting or directed remembering?

“…Several studies of directed forgetting in nonclinical populations have demonstrated that information can be forgotten at will (e.g., Basden, Basden, & Gargano, 1993; Bjork, 1989; Davidson & Bowers, 1991; Geiselman & Bagheri, 1985; MacLeod, 1989; Paller, 1990; see Johnson, 1994, for a general review). In the basic directed forgetting paradigm, study participants are exposed to a series of words.…”