On Bridging the Gap Between Social-Personality Psychology and Neuropsychology

Although cognitive psychology has learned much from the study of patients with neuropsychological impairments, social and personality psychologists have been slow to do the same. In this article we argue that the domain of clinical neuropsychology holds considerable untapped potential for formulating and testing models within social and personality psychology and describe some of the ways in which questions of interest to social and personality psychologists can be addressed with neuropsychological data. Examples are drawn from a variety of neuropsychological syndromes, including amnesia, autism, anosognosia, commissurotomy, frontal lobe damage, and prosopagnosia. We conclude that consideration of the personal and social lives of patients with neuropsychological impairments ultimately will lead to a richer understanding of the person, one that bridges the gap between social and cognitive levels of analysis.

The psychological unconscious and the self

Documentation of implicit expressions of memory in head-injured, mentally ill and normal individuals has offered a new perspective on the problem of unconscious influence on conscious experience, thought and action. The phenomenon of implicit memory is described and used as a basis to develop an analogous concept of implicit perception. In both cases the person shows the effects of current or past events, even though these events are not accessible to phenomenal awareness. There is collateral evidence for the emotional unconscious: emotional states can serve as evidence of implicit perception or memory, and there is evidence of desynchrony between the subjective experience of emotion, which can be identified with consciousness, and the effects of emotional responses on physiology and overt behaviour. Theoretical approaches to the psychological unconscious include a connectionist approach, which affords a limited role for conscious processing in mental life; a neuropsychological approach, involving the disconnection of a module serving consciousness from the rest of the cognitive system; and a psychological approach, which emphasizes the central role in conscious awareness of mental representations of the self as the agent or experiencer of events.

False memories in women with self-reported childhood sexual abuse: an empirical study

Although controversy exists about the validity of memories of childhood abuse, little is known about memory function in individuals reporting childhood abuse. This study assessed memories for previously presented words, including the capacity for false memory of critical lures not actually present in the word list, in 63 subjects, including abused women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abused women without PTSD, and men and women without abuse or PTSD. Abused women with PTSD had a higher frequency of false recognition memory of critical lures (95%) than abused women without PTSD (78%), nonabused women without PTSD (79%), or nonabused men without PTSD (86%). PTSD women also showed poorer memory for studied words and increased insertions of non-studied words other than critical lures. These findings are consistent with a broad range of memory alterations in abused women with PTSD.

Dissociations and dissociation theory in hypnosis: comment on Kirsch and Lynn (1998)

I. Kirsch and S. J. Lynn's (1998) critique of the neodissociation theory of divided consciousness fails to consider evidence of dissociations between explicit and implicit memory and perception in hypnosis. Contrary to their conclusions, evidence that the rate of hidden observer response (like other hypnotic responses) varies with the wording of instructions does not contradict neodissociation theory; rather, it underscores the fact that hypnosis entails social interaction as well as alterations in conscious awareness. Neodissociation and sociocognitive theories of hypnosis complement each other. Each draws attention to aspects of the experience of hypnosis that the other neglects.

Attributions, awareness, and dissociation: in memoriam Kenneth S. Bowers, 1937-1996

Research by Kenneth S. Bowers on posthypnotic suggestion, positive hallucinations, hypnotic analgesia, and posthypnotic amnesia is reviewed, along with his nonhypnotic research on the person-by-situation interaction and on intuition in problem solving. Bowers's intellectual style, serious curiosity, is offered as a model for hypnosis research.

Hypnosis, memory and amnesia

Hypnotized subjects respond to suggestions from the hypnotist for imaginative experiences involving alterations in perception and memory. Individual differences in hypnotizability are only weakly related to other forms of suggestibility. Neuropsychological speculations about hypnosis focus on the right hemisphere and/or the frontal lobes. Posthypnotic amnesia refers to subjects' difficulty in remembering, after hypnosis, the events and experiences that transpired while they were hypnotized. Posthypnotic amnesia is not an instance of state-dependent memory, but it does seem to involve a disruption of retrieval processes similar to the functional amnesias observed in clinical dissociative disorders. Implicit memory, however, is largely spared, and may underlie subjects' ability to recognize events that they cannot recall. Hypnotic hypermnesia refers to improved memory for past events. However, such improvements are illusory: hypermnesia suggestions increase false recollection, as well as subjects' confidence in both true and false memories. Hypnotic age regression can be subjectively compelling, but does not involve the ablation of adult memory, or the reinstatement of childlike modes of mental functioning, or the revivification of memory. The clinical and forensic use of hypermnesia and age regression to enhance memory in patients, victims and witnesses (e.g. recovered memory therapy for child sexual abuse) should be discouraged.

Convergence in understanding hypnosis? Perhaps, but perhaps not quite so fast

The study of hypnosis has been plagued by conflict. Although a more recent trend has been the search for convergence among disparate points of view, two highly salient issues remain contentious: the question of whether hypnosis involves alterations in consciousness, and the nature and correlates of individual differences in hypnotic response. Theoretical convergence is a laudable goal, but not at the expense of obscuring the complexity of hypnosis as a state of altered consciousness, a cognitive skill, and a social interaction. Perhaps the best prescription for convergence in hypnosis is the cautious conviction advocated by Kenneth S. Bowers and so clearly exemplified in his own research.

Is there implicit memory after propofol sedation?

Recent evidence indicates that implicit memory may be preserved during general anaesthesia. We tested for the presence of explicit and implicit memory in patients undergoing surgical procedures with local or regional anaesthesia and sedation with propofol. Initial i.v. boluses of propofol 0.5 mg kg-1 and fentanyl 1 microgram kg-1 were administered, followed by an infusion of propofol 50 micrograms kg-1 min-1. Administration of one or more doses of propofol 30 mg i.v. during operation was controlled either by the patient or the anaesthetist. At the start of the last skin stitch, patients were presented with a list of 15 stimulus words and the most frequently associated response. The infusion was then discontinued. After 1 h in the recovery area, all patients were tested for free recall, free association, cued recall and recognition on the list presented during surgery (critical list) and a matched list not presented (neutral list). Data of all patients without free recall (explicit memory) were analysed with repeated-measures analysis of variance. Of 36 patients, five demonstrated free recall. For the remaining 31 patients, cued recall and recognition showed no evidence of explicit memory. However, the free association tests demonstrated significant priming. The mean number of critical free associations was 6.6 (SEM 0.4) compared with 5.5 (0.4) neutral free association (P < 0.05). In the absence of explicit memory, implicit memory persists after intraoperative sedation with propofol.

Memory and consciousness: an appreciation of Claparède and recognition et moiïtè

Claparède's report of a case of amnesic syndrome is an early example of the cognitive neuropsychology paradigm, by which studies of brain-damaged patients are used to shed light on the nature of normal mental processes. The case illustrates the selective impairment of episodic memory, with procedural and semantic memory remaining intact. Moreover, the several demonstrations of preserved learning during amnesia comprise an early illustration of the dissociation between explicit and implicit memory. However, its greatest contemporary relevance is for theories of conscious recollection. Claparède underscored the role of the self, viewed as a knowledge structure, in conscious mental life, and he drew attention to three different modes of recognition: remembering, inferring, and knowing.

Abnormal eating and dissociative experiences: a further study of college women

A total of 241 female college students completed the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and a battery of other scales measuring tendencies toward psychopathology. Both abnormal eating and ego dysfunction were most strongly associated with depression; lower correlations were obtained with dissociation, fears, obsessions and compulsions, perceptual aberration, and magical ideation. Panic disorder was associated with abnormal eating but not ego dysfunction. There appears to be no specific association between eating disorder and dissociation.

Abnormal eating and dissociative experiences

A total of 656 male and female college students completed the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and a modified version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (M-DES). There were significant correlations between dissociative experiences and each of the EDI subscales, especially for women. Even among women, however, dissociation was more strongly related to aspects of ego dysfunction than to abnormal eating per se. This finding sets limits on the hypothesized association between dissociative disorder and eating disorder.

The trauma-memory argument

The trauma-memory argument proposes that memories of childhood trauma can affect adult behavior outside awareness and that such unconscious memories can return to awareness even after long delays. Unfortunately, this conclusion is based on case reports of unknown representativeness and on clinical studies which are methodologically flawed or do not consider alternative explanations. Of particular concern is the general lack of independent verification of the ostensibly forgotten memories. The trauma-memory argument is plausible, in at least some respects, given what we know about the processes of remembering and forgetting, but considerably more research is needed before it can serve as a basis for scientifically sound clinical practice.

Hypnotizability and mental imagery

Two studies investigated the relationship between mental imagery and hypnotizability, with the imagery measures administered in a hypnotic context. The correlation of hypnotizability with vividness of imagery was significant in one study, but not in the other; both correlations were significantly lower than that obtained between hypnotizability and absorption, assessed in the same samples. The correlations with control of visual imagery, and with various measures of the vividness of motor imagery, were even lower and rarely significant. Except for an aggregate index of motor imagery, a search for significant nonlinear relationships with hypnotizability yielded nothing that was consistent across studies. Future studies of imagery and hypnotizability should make use of better measures of vividness of mental imagery and consider the relevance of aspects of imagery other than vividness.

Commentary: psychodynamics and social cognition--notes on the fusion of psychoanalysis and psychology

Interest in linking psychoanalysis with scientific psychology waxes and wanes. In part, the difficulties have been caused by the preference of psychoanalysts for Freud's clinical theory (and its emphasis on narrative truth) as opposed to his metapsychology (with its requirement for historical truth). Even though contemporary scientific psychology evolved largely independently of psychoanalysis, the articles on object relations, transference, and defense published in this special issue show that the theory remains a source of inspiration, observations, and hypotheses.

Hypnosis, delayed recall, and the principles of memory

This article reviews the seven principles of memory function that set limits on the degree to which any attempt to recover a long-forgotten memory can succeed: encoding, organization, time dependency, cue dependency, encoding specificity, schematic processing, and reconstruction. In the absence of independent corroboration, there is no "litmus test" that can reliably distinguish true from false memories, or memories that are based on perception from those that are based on imagination. Practicing clinicians should exercise great caution when using hypnosis or any other technique to facilitate delayed recall.

Dissociative tendencies and dissociative disorders

Although dissociative disorders are relatively rare, dissociative experiences are rather common in everyday life. Dissociative tendencies appear to be modestly related to other dimensions of personality, such as hypnotizability, absorption, fantasy proneness, and some facets of openness to experience. These dispositional variables may constitute diathesis, or risk factors, for dissociative psychopathology, but more complex models relating personality to psychopathology may be more appropriate. The dissociative disorders raise fundamental questions about the nature of self and identity and the role of consciousness and autobiographical memory in the continuity of personality.

Source memory: extending the boundaries of age-related deficits

Previous research has established that elderly adults can exhibit impaired memory for the source of newly acquired facts even when levels of fact recall in old and young do not differ. However, source memory impairments have been observed only under conditions of many-to-1 mapping: A large number of facts are related to either of 2 sources. It is thus possible that apparent source memory impairments reflect a more general age-related problem in handling many-to-1 mappings. Two experiments provide evidence against this possibility by demonstrating age-related source memory deficits with 1-to-1 mapping between facts and sources. The data also indicate that source memory deficits are observed across encoding tasks that manipulate the allocation of attention to the source or to the fact.

Source memory: extending the boundaries of age-related deficits

Previous research has established that elderly adults can exhibit impaired memory for the source of newly acquired facts even when levels of fact recall in old and young do not differ. However, source memory impairments have been observed only under conditions of many-to-1 mapping: A large number of facts are related to either of 2 sources. It is thus possible that apparent source memory impairments reflect a more general age-related problem in handling many-to-1 mappings. Two experiments provide evidence against this possibility by demonstrating age-related source memory deficits with 1-to-1 mapping between facts and sources. The data also indicate that source memory deficits are observed across encoding tasks that manipulate the allocation of attention to the source or to the fact.

Dissociative tendencies and dissociative disorders

Although dissociative disorders are relatively rare, dissociative experiences are rather common in everyday life. Dissociative tendencies appear to be modestly related to other dimensions of personality, such as hypnotizability, absorption, fantasy proneness, and some facets of openness to experience. These dispositional variables may constitute diathesis, or risk factors, for dissociative psychopathology, but more complex models relating personality to psychopathology may be more appropriate. The dissociative disorders raise fundamental questions about the nature of self and identity and the role of consciousness and autobiographical memory in the continuity of personality.

Hypnotizability and facets of openness

Absorption, a correlate of hypnotizability, is related to a broader dimension of openness to experience, one construal of the "Big Five" structure of personality. But openness itself is very heterogeneous, and some of its facets may be unrelated to hypnotizability. A total of 651 subjects completed a questionnaire measuring three different aspects of openness--absorption, intellectance, and liberalism--before receiving the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. The three dimensions were only modestly related to each other, and only absorption was significantly related to hypnotizability. Adding intellectance and liberalism to absorption did not enhance the prediction of hypnotizability. The results indicate that the various facets of openness are rather different from each other and that the "Big Five" structure may need to be expanded. Absorption and hypnosis share a kind of imaginative involvement that is not necessarily part of other kinds of openness, such as intellectance and liberalism.

Hypnosis: a sesquicentennial essay

The present paper views Coe's (1992) reflections on the sociopolitical interests in clinical and experimental hypnosis against the background of Braid's Neurypnology of 1843. Topics considered are: the significance of the label "hypnosis"; the controversy over state; the tension between credulity and skepticism; the problem of dissociation and automaticity; current theoretical conflicts; and the relationships between practitioners and researchers.

Absence of explicit or implicit memory in patients anesthetized with sufentanil/nitrous oxide

Verbal paired associates were presented to 25 surgical patients from initial incision to closure of the incision during general anesthesia. Sufentanil with nitrous oxide and oxygen was administered; intravenous morphine (0.05 mg/kg) was administered when the skin suturing was completed; no volatile anesthetic agents or benzodiazepines were administered. When ready for discharge from the postanesthesia care unit, and again 2 weeks later by telephone, patients were tested for free recall, cued recall, recognition, and free association. No evidence of explicit memory for the word list was demonstrated by patients on tests of free recall, cued recall, or recognition, nor did a free-association test of implicit memory demonstrate a significant priming effect, in contrast to previous results obtained with isoflurane. The precise conditions under which surgical events can be processed, and retained in the form of implicit memory outside of conscious awareness, remain to be determined.

The psychological unconscious. Found, lost, and regained

In response to Greenwald's article on contemporary research on unconscious mental processes, the authors address three issues: (a) the independence of much recent research and theory from psychodynamic formulations; (b) the broad sweep of the psychological unconscious, including implicit perception, memory, thought, learning, and emotion; and (c) the possibility that the analytic power of unconscious processing may depend both on the manner in which mental contents are rendered unconscious and the manner in which they are to be processed.

An adult developmental study of the encoding of spatial location

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that there is a differential deficit in the ability to encode contextual information with increasing age. Young, middle-aged, and elderly adults were shown target words in various quadrants of a computer screen (contexts) and were told to either (a) remember the words and their locations, (b) remember the words, or (c) tell whether the words referred to something that was alive or not. Following presentation of the words, subjects were given a recognition test for the words and were asked to identify the quadrant in which each word had been presented. If older adults have a contextual encoding deficit, than an interaction between age and instruction condition would be expected in memory for quadrants. Older adults would be expected to perform better relative to younger adults when the locations were target information (intentionally learned) than when they were contextual (not intentionally learned). Since such an interaction was not obtained, the results provide no support for the hypothesis that the elderly have an encoding deficit that is specific to contextual information.

Mental images can be ambiguous: reconstruals and reference-frame reversals

Philosophers and psychologists have debated whether or not mental images of ambiguous figures are reversible as pictures of such figures are. Previously, empirical evidence both pro (Finke, Pinker, & Farah, 1989) and con (Chambers & Reisberg, 1985) has been obtained. In a series of four experiments, we identify the conditions under which images of classic ambiguous figures like the duck/rabbit and the snail/elephant are reversible. We distinguish between two types of reversal: those that entail a change in reference-frame specification as well as a reconstrual of image components (reference-frame realignments) and those that entail reconstruals only (reconstruals). We show that reference-frame realignments can occur in imagery, particularly if observers are given an explicit or an implicit suggestion; and that reconstruals of images occur commonly, regardless of experimental conditions. In addition, we show that images constructed from good parts are more likely to reverse than images constructed from poor parts. On the basis of these results, we propose a functional organization of shape memory that is consistent with shape recognition findings as well as with our reversal findings.

Laterality of hypnotic response

In an investigation of hemispheric activity during hypnosis, a total of 1269 Ss received hypnotizability scales containing suggestions targeting the left or right side of the body. There were no consistent differences in response strength on the left compared to the right side. Nor were there differences in hypnotizability between right- and left-handed (and ambidextrous) Ss, or between Ss who sat on the left versus right side of the testing room. Definitive evidence of lateralized cerebral activity associated with hypnosis and hypnotizability can only come from direct neuropsychological, electrocortical, or brain-imaging investigations.

Awareness and information processing in general anesthesia

Although general anesthesia produces an apparent loss of consciousness, there is some reason to believe that, at least under some circumstances, surgical events may influence post-operative experience, thoughts and action as implicit memories. This paper summarizes a number of recent experiments in which adequately anesthetized patients show implicit, but not explicit, memory for surgical events. The evidence for implicit memory following general anesthesia is mixed, and the limiting conditions are not yet known. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are explored.

The psychological unconscious: Found, lost, and regained

In response to Greenwald's article on contemporary research on unconscious mental processes, the authors address three issues: (a) the independence of much recent research and theory from psychodynamic formulations; (b) the broad sweep of the psychological unconscious, including implicit perception, memory, thought, learning, and emotion; and (c) the possibility that the analytic power of unconscious processing may depend both on the manner in which mental contents are rendered unconscious and the manner in which they are to be processed.

The relation between source memory and aging

Previous research has shown that elderly adults have difficulty recalling the source of recently acquired facts but does not indicate whether source memory is more impaired than fact memory. This study examined old and young subjects' memory for novel facts that had been read to them by 1 of 2 experimental sources either in a random order or in a blocked order. When fact memory was equated in young and old at different levels of performance, the elderly exhibited disproportionate source memory deficits in the blocked condition but not in the random condition. Results suggest that the relation between fact and source memory in the elderly varies across experimental conditions.

Trance logic in hypnosis and imagination

In 2 experiments we investigated trance logic, or the tolerance of logical incongruity, in age regression and hallucination. Experiment 1 tested 21 hypnotizable and 19 unhypnotizable subjects in an application of the real-simulating model of hypnosis. Experiment 2 tested 26 high and 19 low imagery ability subjects in an adaptation of the model to the imagination context. Subjects' experiences were investigated through the experiential analysis technique. More real than simulating subjects displayed trance logic during age regression, but they did not differ on the major measures of trance logic during hallucination. This pattern of responding occurred in both the hypnosis and the imagination contexts. Subjects' comments suggested that completeness of and belief in age regression or hallucination may play some role in trance logic. The importance of understanding trance logic from the subject's point of view is discussed.

Trance logic in hypnosis and imagination

In 2 experiments we investigated trance logic, or the tolerance of logical incongruity, in age regression and hallucination. Experiment 1 tested 21 hypnotizable and 19 unhypnotizable subjects in an application of the real-simulating model of hypnosis. Experiment 2 tested 26 high and 19 low imagery ability subjects in an adaptation of the model to the imagination context. Subjects' experiences were investigated through the experiential analysis technique. More real than simulating subjects displayed trance logic during age regression, but they did not differ on the major measures of trance logic during hallucination. This pattern of responding occurred in both the hypnosis and the imagination contexts. Subjects' comments suggested that completeness of and belief in age regression or hallucination may play some role in trance logic. The importance of understanding trance logic from the subject's point of view is discussed.

The relation between source memory and aging

Previous research has shown that elderly adults have difficulty recalling the source of recently acquired facts but does not indicate whether source memory is more impaired than fact memory. This study examined old and young subjects' memory for novel facts that had been read to them by 1 of 2 experimental sources either in a random order or in a blocked order. When fact memory was equated in young and old at different levels of performance, the elderly exhibited disproportionate source memory deficits in the blocked condition but not in the random condition. Results suggest that the relation between fact and source memory in the elderly varies across experimental conditions.

Absorption, openness to experience, and hypnotizability

Absorption, a correlate of hypnotizability, is conceptually related to openness to experience. Study 1 found no evidence that gender moderated the correlation between absorption and hypnotizability, or of nonlinear trends. Study 2 showed that openness was factorially complex, and that absorption was related to imaginative involvement, but not to social-political liberalism. Study 3 found small quadratic trends in the relations between these variables and hypnotizability; hypnotizability was related to imaginative involvement, but not liberalism. Study 4 confirmed differential correlations between absorption subscales and hypnotizability but failed to confirm the nonlinear trends. Implications for future studies of the correlates of hypnotizability, and for the nature of the "fifth factor" in personality structure, are discussed.

Effects of item-specific and relational information on hypermnesic recall

The role of encoding conditions in producing hypermnesia (increased recall over successive trials) was examined by manipulating the availability of item-specific and relational information at encoding. Our findings demonstrate that encodings providing item-specific information (e.g., elaborative encodings) produce hypermnesia by facilitating the recovery of new items over trials, whereas encodings providing relational information (e.g., organizational encodings) produce hypermnesia by protecting against the loss of previously recalled items. Thus, the effects of encodings on hypermnesia may be understood by considering the type of trace information they make available.

Daydreaming, absorption and hypnotizability

The revised form of the Absorption Scale extracted from Tellegen's Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Tellegen, 1981; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974) and the Short Imaginal Processes Inventory (Huba, Aneshensel, & Singer, 1981), a self-report questionnaire concerned with daydreaming activity, were administered to 2 samples of Ss (N = 479, N = 476), who also received the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (Shor & E. Orne, 1962). In both samples, hypnotizability was significantly correlated with absorption (average r = .24) and with a subscale measuring positive-constructive daydreaming (average r = .13). Absorption and positive-constructive daydreaming were also highly correlated (average r = .57). Of the subscales of the positive-constructive daydreaming scale, only those relating to positive reactions to daydreaming, and problem solving in daydreaming, consistently correlated with hypnotizability. Daydreaming and absorption each share some features in common with hypnosis, but they appear to have more in common with each other.

Dispositional correlates of hypnosis: a phenomenological approach

An attempt was made to construct and validate a questionnaire measure of hypnotic-like experiences based on Shor's (1979) 8-dimension phenomenological analysis of hypnosis. Separate item pools were developed to measure each disposition: Trance, Nonconscious Involvement, Archaic Involvement, Drowsiness, Relaxation, Vividness of Imagery, Absorption, and Access to the Unconscious. Based on preliminary testing (total N = 856), a final questionnaire was produced containing 5 items measuring normal, everyday experiences in each domain. Results from a standardization sample (N = 468) showed that each of the subscales, except for Archaic Involvement, possessed satisfactory levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Factor analysis indicated that 6 subscales loaded highly on a common factor similar to the absorption construct (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), while items pertaining to Relaxation and Archaic Involvement formed separate factors. Validation testing on 4 samples receiving the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A) of Shor and E. Orne (1962) (total N = 1855) showed that the Absorption and Trance dimensions correlated most strongly with HGSHS:A; the correlations with Drowsiness, Relaxation, and Nonconscious Involvement approached 0. The scales derived from Shor's analysis, however, did not improve the prediction of hypnotizability over that obtained with the absorption scale (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974).

Autobiographical memory in a case of multiple personality disorder

Previous research on multiple personality disorder (MPD) has been concerned with between-personalities amnesia, and little attention has been paid to within-personality memory function. This study examined the autobiographical memory of a multiple personality patient, I.C., with cueing procedures that have proven useful in previous studies of normal and abnormal memory. Results indicated that I.C. was able to retrieve autobiographical episodes from the recent past, although her performance differed in several respects from that of matched controls. The study also revealed a striking deficit in I.C.'s autobiographical memory for childhood: She was unable to recall a single episode from prior to the age of 10 in response to various retrieval cues, whereas control subjects had no difficulty recalling numerous childhood episodes. This phenomenon of extended childhood amnesia has not been reported previously in studies of MPD.

Effects of item-specific and relational information on hypermnesic recall

The role of encoding conditions in producing hypermnesia (increased recall over successive trials) was examined by manipulating the availability of item-specific and relational information at encoding. Our findings demonstrate that encodings providing item-specific information (e.g., elaborative encodings) produce hypermnesia by facilitating the recovery of new items over trials, whereas encodings providing relational information (e.g., organizational encodings) produce hypermnesia by protecting against the loss of previously recalled items. Thus, the effects of encodings on hypermnesia may be understood by considering the type of trace information they make available.

The cognitive unconscious

Contemporary research in cognitive psychology reveals the impact of nonconscious mental structures and processes on the individual's conscious experience, thought, and action. Research on perceptual-cognitive and motoric skills indicates that they are automatized through experience, and thus rendered unconscious. In addition, research on subliminal perception, implicit memory, and hypnosis indicates that events can affect mental functions even though they cannot be consciously perceived or remembered. These findings suggest a tripartite division of the cognitive unconscious into truly unconscious mental processes operating on knowledge structures that may themselves be preconscious or subconscious.

Elaboration, organization, and the self-reference effect in memory

Relating information to the self (self-referent encoding) has been shown to produce better recall than purely semantic encoding. This finding has been interpreted as demonstrating that self-reference produces a more elaborate memory trace than semantic encoding, and it has been cited frequently as evidence that the self is one of the most highly elaborated structures in memory. The experiments reported in this article challenge this interpretation of the self-reference effect by demonstrating that self-referent and semantic encodings produce virtually identical free recall levels if they are first equated for the amount of organization they encourage. On the basis of our findings we conclude the following: Organization, not elaboration, is responsible for the superior recall performance obtained when information is encoded self-referentially, and organization is not a necessary component of self-referent encoding and can be orthogonally varied within self-referent and semantic encoding tasks. Finally, we discuss how a single-factor theory based on organization can account for many of the self-referent recall findings reported in the literature.