INTENSITY OF AMNESIA DURING HYPNOSIS IS POSITIVELY CORRELATED WITH ESTIMATED PREVALENCE OF SEXUAL ABUSE AND ALIEN ABDUCTIONS - IMPLICATIONSFOR THE FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME

20 normal young women listened to an ambiguous story concerning a youn g boy who experienced fear, odd smells, and a smothering sensation dur ing the night and skin lesions the next morning. After the Hypnotic In duction Profile (HIP) had been established, they were asked to estimat e either the percentage prevalence of childhood sexual abuse or alien abduction in the general population. There were moderate (0.50) positi ve correlations between the subjects' estimates of prevalence and the amount of amnesia (''lost time'') and indices of right-hemispheric ano malies (history of sensed presence and left-ear suppressions during a dichotic-listening task). Relevance of observations to formation of th e False Memory Syndrome and to the development of nonpsychotic delusio ns is discussed.