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

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.

Experimental facilitation of the sensed presence is predicted by the specific patterns of the applied magnetic fields, not by suggestibility: re-analyses of 19 experiments

If all experiences are generated by brain activity, then experiences of God and spirits should also be produced by the appropriate cerebral stimulation. During the last 15 years experiments have shown that the sensed presence of a "Sentient Being" can be reliably evoked by very specific temporal patterns of weak (<1 microT) transcerebral magnetic fields applied across the temporoparietal region of the two hemispheres. Recently Granqvist et al. (2005) attributed these effects to suggestibility and exotic beliefs. Re-analyses with additional data for 407 subjects (19 experiments) showed that the magnetic configurations, not the subjects' exotic beliefs or suggestibility, were responsible for the experimental facilitation of sensing a presence. On the other hand, the subjects' histories of sensed presences before exposure to the experimental setting were moderately correlated with exotic beliefs and temporal lobe sensitivity. Several recent experiments have shown that the side attributed to the presence at the time of the experience is sensitive to the temporal parameters of the fields, the hemisphere to which they are maximized, and the person's a priori beliefs. The importance of verifying the specific timing and temporal pattern of the software-generated fields and following an effective protocol is emphasized.