DO BACKWARD MESSAGES UNCONSCIOUSLY AFFECT LISTENERS - NO

Subjects listened to digitized statements that were played backward or in the usual forward manner. After listening to the statements, subje cts were tested for recognition memory. All the statements were played backward on the test. Subjects who had heard backward statements show ed reliable old-new discrimination but subjects who had heard forward statements did not. Then subjects rated the probable truth of statemen ts that were typed in normal orientation. This time it was the subject s who had heard the statements played forward who discriminated the ol d from the new statements by rating more of the old ones true. The sub jects who heard the statements backward did not. These results indicat e that the forward meaning of backward statements does not ''leak'' th rough, even when the backward statements themselves are memorable. Tho se who are concerned about the possible influence of backward speech i n rock music can rest more easily.