Let's Explore our Memory: Memory Distortions - Hypnosis

9 months ago

The fact that memory can often be wrong and get twisted is backed up by lots of evidence. But the way we remember things also shows that there's more stuff stored in our memory than we can usually remember or bring back at once.

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This reality led to search for techniques that could be used to help restore memories of certain significance.

For instance , trying to make witnesses remember what the suspect said or did .

The use of hypnosis by various law enforcement agencies in America has been aimed at enhancing witness recollection during criminal investigations. The witness is hypnotized and told that he is back at a specific time and place; he will then describe what he sees there.

☝️A movie, but hypnosis works similarly.

At first glance, the outcomes in both real-life situations and lab experiments are very impressive. For example, a hypnotized witness can point out the attacker as they mentally go back to the crime scene. Also, a hypnotized college student can go back to when they were six years old and experience their sixth birthday party with the excitement of a child.

There's not much doubt that these hypnotized folks truly believe they're reliving these moments, thinking what they remember truly occurred. However, when looked into, it's often found that the memories brought out by hypnosis are actually wrong. In one court case, for example, a suspect was proven to have been overseas when a hypnotized witness claimed to have seen him during an attack.

Similar points apply to the description of childhood events elicited under hypnosis . Convincing details such as the name of a first-grade teacher turn out to be quite false when later checked against available records.

Some participants were told to draw a picture while imagining they were six years old again. At first, their drawings seemed very childlike. However, when compared to drawings they actually made when they were six, it's obvious they're more advanced. These drawings show what an adult thinks a child's drawing looks like, rather than being authentic.

How can we explain these results?

It seems that hypnosis doesn't have the almost magical abilities that people often think it does.

As a matter of fact, hypnosis doesn’t make us experience our past on will (and in the same vein, it can’t be used to perform any physical prowess like feats of strength or agility that we are otherwise incapable of). What it does is; however, make individuals particularly willing to trust another human being, a hypnotist, and listen to him. In this context, within certain agreed upon constraints.

Should he tell them to remember something, they would try their hardest. They would bend over backwards trying with all their might to recall every possible cue from the recesses of their minds. In other words, so would we all–provided that we really wanted it enough–whether we are under a spell or not.

But what if we don't succeed?

In case we do not get hypnotized, we will eventually give up and accept defeat.

However, those who have been hypnotized may not. They try to appease the hypnotist who has ordered them to attempt recollection and assured them that they can. Consequently, they do whatever the hypnotherapist requests of them. By building upon their previous knowledge, they create memories through imagination.

As we saw in yesterday's blog-isode, such reconstructions are also a typical characteristic of remembering .

The thing about hypnosis is that the person believes their made-up stories and imaginations are real memories while they're hypnotized.

Some evidence comes from a study on the susceptibility to leading questions .

Yeah! Back to our car accident videos experiment

The researcher used a common method where they showed participants videos of an accident, and then asked them to remember specific details, sometimes while they were hypnotized and other times while they were not. Some of the questions were suggestive, while others were more neutral.

As we just saw in our previous blog-isode yesterday, these suggestive questions can cause mistakes even without hypnosis.

But they cause even more mistakes in hypnotized people than in those who weren't hypnotized. When asked if they saw "the license plate..." (which couldn't actually be seen), some of the hypnotized participants not only said yes but also gave partial descriptions of the license plate number.😬

Discoveries like these raise serious concerns about using hypnosis without careful thought in real-life legal situations. 🤷

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