Case Studies of Attempts to Revive the Memory of Highly Susceptible Eyewitnesses With Hypnosis (From Advances in Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry, V 1, P 65-85, 1984, by Robert W Rieber, ed. - See NCJ-100229)

• NCJ Number: 100232
• Author(s): R Buckhout; T H Kramer; T Licitra; L Oliver; M Debenedetto; L Horn; A Gordon
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 21 pages
• Sale Source: Ablex Publishing Corporation
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This research conducted with six subjects in 1982 indicates that hypnosis does not improve an eyewitness' memory of offender features even when the witnesses are good hypnotic subjects.

Abstract

Subjects with clinically established high hypnotic susceptibility were shown slides of a staged assault in a simulated prison setting. Later they were told that researchers wanted to probe their memory of the crime events with and without hypnosis. Questions probing initial and subsequent recall were put by a researcher unfamiliar with the simulated crime events. Hypnosis did not expand the number of facts recalled nor the accuracy of detail when compared with initial unaided recollection of the people and events in the crime. Only two subjects showed a positive memory change after initial recall, and this occurred before hypnosis. No subject correctly identified the perpetrator in the lineup. Although the subjects attempted to increase recall under hypnosis, this produced incorrect information. Recall of a perpetrator's appearance is apparently a function of how well the perpetrator was observed by the witness. 9 references and tabular data.