Recall in Hypnosis: More Memory, More Confidence or More Mistakes?

• NCJ Number: 121930
• Author(s): D F Dinges; M R Orne; W G Whitehouse; E C Orne; J W Powell IV; M H Erdelyi
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): MH-19156; 82-IJ-CX-0007
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); National Institute of Mental Health; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub; Institute for Experimental Psychiatry Research Foundation
• Corporate Author: University of Pennsylvania; Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital; Brooklyn College C.U.N.Y.
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Paper presented at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New York, NY, August 28-September 1, 1987

Annotation

Two studies used the forced recall procedure to assess the effects of hypnosis on the accuracy of memory, on the confidence placed in memory reports, and on recall errors believed by the person to be correct.

Abstract

In the first study, 48 people were randomly assigned to one of two recall conditions: with hypnosis and without hypnosis. Half the subjects in each condition were of high hypnotizability. They viewed 40 slides of line drawings of common objects. They completed a wake-forced recall immediately and a week later. The second study used a similar methodology with 38 participants, but it examined recall when hypnosis was used after repeated attempts to recall. When considered together, the results of the two studies showed that hypnosis produces little more than an increase in erroneous memories that the individual is confident are correct. Figures.