Posthypnotic Amnesia: Dissociation of Self-Concept or Self-Consciousness?

Abstract

Two studies of posthypnotic amnesia tested predictions derived from the ‘source’ monitoring theory of self-consciousness. Experiment 1 tested the prediction that posthypnotic source amnesia is irreversible, because hypnosis attenuates self-consciousness of whether one's sensations have an imaginal source or a perceptual source. In this initial study, recall amnesia was reversed by posthypnotic cuing with a prearranged signal, but source amnesia was not reversed by such cuing. Experiment 2 examined whether the cued reversal of recall amnesia is attributable, in part, to the hypnotic attenuation of self-conscious ‘source monitoring’ and, in part, to the reversal of recall criteria: from a criterion rejecting ‘seemingly imaginary’ or ‘sourceless’ memories, to a criterion accepting ‘sourceless but familiar’ memories. In this latter study, posthypnotic recall amnesia was breached when subjects were instructed to trust their seemingly imaginary memories, but not when they were instructed to try harder to remember.