Intensity of amnesia during hypnosis is positively correlated with estimated prevalence of sexual abuse and alien abductions: implications for the false memory syndrome

CONFOUNDING VARIABLES WITHIN “REFERRAL CONTROLS” FOR CHILDREN WITH HISTORIES OF SEXUAL STIMULATION BY ADULTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ERRONEOUS ATTRIBUTIONS FROM “CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE”

Verbal and performance scores from a standardized intelligence battery for age-matched children from four groups (n = 67) were compared to discern if the depressed scores for verbal intelligence displayed by children with histories of verified sexual stimulation by adults were epiphenomenal. The children had been referred to a psychiatric facility because of early sexual stimulation by adults, from a children's mental health service because of family problems, or from a school board for conduct disorders. The fourth group was hospital controls for the first group. The children with nonculturally approved sexual activity with adults and those from the mental health service displayed verbal intelligence scores that were about one SD below the scores for children referred by the school board and for the control group. These results suggest that psychological variables may not reflect a causal relationship and hence group differences should not be attributed exclusively to the diagnosis of sexual abuse.

False claims about false memory research

Pezdek and Lam [Pezdek, K. & Lam, S. (2007). What research paradigms have cognitive psychologists used to study "False memory," and what are the implications of these choices? Consciousness and Cognition] claim that the majority of research into false memories has been misguided. Specifically, they charge that false memory scientists have been (1) misusing the term "false memory," (2) relying on the wrong methodologies to study false memories, and (3) misapplying false memory research to real world situations. We review each of these claims and highlight the problems with them. We conclude that several types of false memory research have advanced our knowledge of autobiographical and recovered memories, and that future research will continue to make significant contributions to how we understand memory and memory errors.

What's in a Name for Memory Errors? Implications and Ethical Issues Arising From the Use of the Term "False Memory" for Errors in Memory for Details

The term "false memories" has been used to refer to suggestibility experiments in which whole events are apparently confabulated and in media accounts of contested memories of childhood abuse. Since 1992 psychologists have increasingly used the term "false memory" when discussing memory errors for details, such as specific words within lists. Use of the term to refer to errors in details is a shift in language away from other terms used historically (e.g., "memory intrusions"). We empirically examine this shift in language and discuss implications of the new use of the term "false memories." Use of the term presents serious ethical challenges to the data-interpretation process by encouraging over-generalization and misapplication of research findings on word memory to social issues.

Experimental production of illusory (false) memories in reconstructions of narratives: effect size and potential mediation by right hemispheric stimulation from complex, weak magnetic fields

This experiment was designed to discern the proportion of false, inferential and verbatim memories that would be included in the reconstruction, one week later, of a 5 min narrative containing ambiguous but emotional content about a little boy. After 48 subjects were administered Spiegel's Hypnosis Induction Profile, they listened to the narrative, were exposed to one of four applications of transcerebral weak, complex magnetic fields for 30 min and then given either an accurate or inaccurate short summary of the story. One week later the group who received the erroneous summary reported more false memories about the original story than did the reference group; this treatment accommodated about 40% of the variance in numbers of false memories. Only an indicator of electrical lability within the temporal lobes (but not hypnotizability) was strongly associated with the numbers of inferential memories but not the numbers of false memories. The group that received transcerebral stimulation over the right hemisphere by a complex magnetic field and the erroneous summary reported three times the numbers of false memories compared to the other groups. Whereas verbatim memories showed a strong primacy effect inferential memories exhibited a strong recency effect (eta(2) =.66).

Hypnotic induction profiles, contextual innuendo, and delayed intrusion errors for a narrative: searching for mediating variables

18 young men and 18 women listened to an ambiguous narrative concerning the nocturnal experiences of a young boy and then, after an inventory on hypnotic induction and a dichotic word-listening task, were asked to estimate the prevalence of child abuse or abduction by aliens (a third group served as controls). One week later the subjects were asked to reconstruct the narrative. Scores for suggestibility, estimates of prevalence, the sense of a presence during the first sitting and less cerebral lateralization were loaded on the same factor. Although the three groups did not differ with respect to numbers of literal memories, the groups who were given either one of the two innuendos also included an additional 11% of inferences and paraphrases which were considered erroneous reconstructions of the memory of the narrative.

Numbers of details in the reconstruction of an emotional narrative decrease linearly as a function of time

33 university students listened to a 5-min. ambiguous narrative about a young boy (The Billy Story) while another 33 students did not. At the end of the final examination for the course the students were promised a 2% bonus mark if they could reconstruct the details of the story. Whereas only one student who heard the story could not recall any details, 30% of the students (n = 9) who never heard the story generated a false one. The numbers of accurate details recalled by those who heard the story decreased linearly with the time (5 through 30 days). Five times the numbers of the women than men who heard the story attributed the young boy's anomalous experience to sexual abuse.

Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse: a concise social history of the phenomenon, and the key psychological concepts relevant to understanding the disputes concerning such claims

The alleged and disputed repression of serious, traumatic and repeated childhood sexual abuse memories, and their recovery, usually with psychotherapy and 'memory recovery techniques', have become a major social phenomenon in the last 15 years. This review picks out the key historical, theoretical, research and legal milestones during that period. Key concepts and a review of the inconsistent usage of language and definitions are highlighted to assist the reader to understand the nature of the dispute. A comparison is drawn between this phenomenon and the parallel social history of claims of alien abductions in the US for the purpose of hybrid breeding. A comparison is also made between the boundaries of natural memory functioning as currently understood, and that imputed to questionable recovered memories of childhood sexual assault.

Repeated verbal interruptions during exposure to complex transcerebral magnetic fields elicit irritability: implications for opiate effects

Men (n = 17) and women (n = 18) listened to a brief narrative and then were exposed for 30 min. to a control condition or to a weak (1 microTesla) complex magnetic field applied over the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere, or bilaterally. The subjects were interrupted intermittently to report their thoughts during this period. Because the wave structure of the field had been shown to elevate nociceptive thresholds and to simulate the effects of morphine in rats, we predicted that the group who received the bilateral stimulation should report greater irritability because of their disrupted pleasant experiences. The results supported this hypothesis.

Women reconstruct more details than men for a complex five-minute narrative: implications for right-hemispheric factors in the serial memory effect

A total of 20 men and 20 women listened to a 5-min. ambiguous narrative (the "Billy" story). When the subjects were asked (unexpectedly) to reconstruct the details of the story as a written narrative 30 min. later, women employed about 50% more words and comparably more accurate detail than the men. Covariance for pre-experimental experiences suggested that the women's proficiency could be related to the greater representation of linguistic processes within the right (non-dominant) hemisphere. The hypothesis that the classic deficit of reconstructional accuracy for events during the middle of a story is related to right-hemispheric inhibition was also supported. Subjects who recalled the fewest details reported more vivid dreaming during the subsequent two days.

Seizure suggestibility may not be an exclusive differential indicator between psychogenic and partial complex seizures: the presence of a third factor

Differential diagnosis between psychogenic or ('hysterical') pseudoseizures and clinical partial complex seizures has often employed an index or inference of suggestibility. However, recent research indicates a moderate association between complex partial epileptic-like signs and hypnotic capacity in the normal population as well as for complex partial epileptic patients. Consequently, the precipitation of overt, non-stereotyped seizures by instruction may not be a reliable diagnostic method when an insidious process is slowly elevating temporal/limbic lobe lability. Implications for treatment and contra-indication of antipsychotic (D2 antagonist) drugs are discussed.