Dissociative style and directed forgetting

Dissociative style may correspond to an enhanced ability avoid to avoid con scious recollection of traumatic experiences, which may, however, remain do rmant in nonconscious memory. This hypothesis was tested in two "directed-f orgetting" experiments with affectively neutral words (experiment 1) and se x and threat words (experiment 2) employing students high and low in dissoc iative style, and dissociation patients. Conscious and nonconscious memory were separated with the process dissociation procedure (Jacoby, 1991). Inst ruction to forget was expected to reduce conscious but to enhance nonconsci ous memory performance in subjects with a high dissociative ability. Result s were opposite to predictions. Particularly for sex words, the instruction to forget raised the overall (conscious and nonconscious) memory performan ce of the patients. An alternative construction hypothesis is proposed that identifies dissociative style with enhanced skills of constructing conscio us experiences.