The Organization of Recall during Hypnotic Suggestions for Complete and Selective Amnesia

Abstract

Hypnotic subjects learned a nine item list that contained three words in each of three categories. Afterwards, they were instructed to forget either the entire list, the items in one category, or one item from each category. Clustering of recall was measured on the recall trials immediately before the suggestion, during amnesia testing, and after cancelling the suggestion. Partial amnesics asked to forget the entire list clustered significantly less during amnesia testing than before or after the suggestion, and testified that they shifted attention away from the recall task during amnesia testing. Subjects in the two selective amnesia treatments showed high levels of clustering during amnesia testing. Instead of disattending from the recall task at this time, these subjects devised strategies for segregating the to-be-forgotten and to-be-remembered items. These findings support the hypothesis that hypnotic amnesia involves strategic enactment, and that amnesic subjects maintain control over their memory processes.