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whetherremembered or constructed:
"... They are subjectively experienced as external events rather
than asinternal processes, with a consequent endowment of
them as realityexperiences."
"... They identified it with actual past experiences and thus
endowed it witha subjective validity."
"... They 'created a reality' that permitted a responsive
functioning inaccord with the demands of the experiment."
Are there identified physiological correlates for such vivid recollections orre-
creations of past events? One controversial researcher, Michael Persinger,has
written hundreds of articles on the subject of neurophysiologicalcorrelates of
extraordinary experiences of all kinds. He has reportedlyreproduced
something like ecstatic mystical states with the help ofelectromagnetic
stimulation of the cortical temporal lobes of human subjects,and facilitated
vivid imagery akin to UFO abduction experiences. He is notalone in the
observation of what is sometimes known as 'clinical mysticism,'which is seen
in some forms of temporal lobe epilepsy and in mechanicalstimulation of
areas of the temporal lobes, but he is somewhat unique in hisrepeatedly
published insistence that all or virtually all unexplainedpheonomena and
seemingly false memories can be traced to electromagneticeffects on the
: How reliable are things remembered under hypnosis? by Todd I. Stark
brain. For an article particularly pertinent to the issue ofhypnotic recall, see:
Persinger MA. Neuropsychological profiles of adults who report
"suddenremembering" of early childhood memories: implications for
claims of sex abuseand alien visitation/abduction experiences.
Perceptual & Motor Skills.75(1):259-66, 1992 Aug.
"Six adults, who had recently experienced sudden recall of
preschool memoriesof sex abuse or alien abduction/visitation,
were given completeneuropsychological assessments. All
experiences "emerged" when hypnosis wasutilized within a
context of sex abuse or New Age religion and were followedby
reduction in anxiety. As a group, these subjects displayed
significant (Tgreater than 70) elevations of childhood
imaginings, complex partialepileptic-like signs, and
suggestibility. Neuropsychological data indicatedright
frontotemporal anomalies and reduced access to the right
parietal lobe.MMPI profiles were normal. The results support
the hypothesis that enhancedimagery due to temporal lobe
lability within specific contexts can facilitatethe creation of
memories; they are strengthened further if there is
alsoreduction in anxiety." (Taken from an on-line abstract).
If there is anything to this 'temporal lobe lability' hypothesis, it seemswell
worthwhile investigating its relationship to hypnotic suggestibility, andthe
hypothetical 'Fantasy Prone Personality' of Barber and Wilson.
As for recall under hypnosis, the experimental observation seems to be thatthe
subject is uniquely motivated to remember details, but also uniquelycapable
of making up details and experiencing them as if they were remembered.
In Lynn and Rhue's 1991 Theories of Hypnosis, Robert Nadon et al.discuss a
representative example of experiments in eyewitness recall with theaid of
hypnosis. Subjects were shown a videotape of a mock armed robbery.They
were then asked to recall specific aspects 6 times:
Twice immediately after seeing the film.
Twice a week after seeing the film.
Once during hypnosis.
Once after hypnosis.
The result was that high hypnotizability subjects (SHSS:C) recalled
morecumulative items in hypnosis than they did just before hypnosis.
Lowhypnotizability subjects did not remember more during hypnosis.
Thismatches our expectation of hypermnesia, that hypnosis facilitates recall
forgood hypnotic subjects.
Most interestingly, both high and low hypnotizability subjects alsomade more
cumulative errors during hypnosis than just before hypnosis,though the effect
was stronger with highly hypnotizable subjects.
One explanation of this kind of result from experiments is that the
hypnoticcontext causes subjects to adopt a looser reporting criterion, and they
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