title: The effects of hypnosis, context reinstatement, and anxiety on eyewitness memory.
abstract: The effects of hypnosis, context reinstatement, and motivational instructions on accuracy of recall for factual information and facial recognition accuracy following a stressful event were assessed. None of the three techniques had a significant effect on factual memory or susceptibility to suggestion as assessed by true-false and multiple-choice tests. However, participants high in hypnotic susceptibility showed somewhat better memory on the true-false test, and hypnosis affected performance on the two photograph line-ups. In addition, hypnosis appeared to enhance facial recognition accuracy for participants who were low in anxiety, but not for those high in anxiety. Finally, there was evidence of a curvilinear relationship between self-reported anxiety at time of retrieval and facial recognition accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Ready
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Bothwell
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Brigham
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009042:Motivation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012931:Social Environment; D013404:Suggestion