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Instructed forgetting: hypnotic and nonhypnotic.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|March 1, 1983
Summary
Directed forgetting and hypnotic amnesia share retrieval inhibition as a common mechanism. Further research within a unified experimental paradigm is needed to confirm this finding.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Directed forgetting involves intentionally forgetting specific information.
- Hypnotic amnesia is a state of memory loss induced by hypnotic suggestion.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare directed forgetting in a normal waking state with amnesia induced by hypnotic suggestion.
- To identify shared and distinct mechanisms underlying these two memory phenomena.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of directed forgetting and hypnotic amnesia paradigms.
- Theoretical examination of proposed memory mechanisms.
Main Results:
- Directed forgetting and hypnotic amnesia differ in learning, study time, cue timing, retention intervals, and memory measures.
- Standard directed forgetting mechanisms (selective rehearsal, list segregation, selective search) do not explain hypnotic amnesia.
- Retrieval inhibition appears to be a shared mechanism between directed forgetting and hypnotic amnesia.
Conclusions:
- Retrieval inhibition is a potential common mechanism linking directed forgetting and hypnotic amnesia.
- Methodological differences currently limit definitive conclusions.
- Further research using a common experimental paradigm is required to validate the shared retrieval inhibition mechanism.