Alright, I know I've been posting with far too much enthusiasm in the past couple of days, but I read a very interesting article on the web today that I just had to share.
"Study: Walking through a doorway wipes out memory"
The article in summation essentially gives an explanation of the phenomenon of going to get something from another room and then thinking to oneself, "Why did I come in here again?" Turns out the act of going through a door (and more interestingly, thinking oneself is going through a door) sends a signal to your brain that you are in a new environment and to concentrate more on that one than the previous one. Memories of the previous environment are often eschewed. Hence the delightful term "event eraser."
My first immediate thought was obviously the applications for hypnosis. I know the visualization of "walking through a doorway" is somewhat common, but consider if one were to take full advantage of the whole "event eraser" idea. An in-depth visualization of going through a doorway could be perfect for situations requiring different kinds of amnesia, alternate personalities, and all sorts of things. Suggestions of amnesia could be minimized or perhaps even left out, while the subject is left to concentrate on the idea of walking through a door, and, hopefully, their brain will take that as a cue.
Why the fascination with eliciting amnesia? To be plain and simple, it's a tough thing for me to achieve as a subject, and I'm always looking for more effective ways to try to get myself (and others with similar minds) to experience this phenomenon. Anyways, thought it'd be an interesting idea :)
(Oh my gosh, did I just post a blog entry without anything dirty in it?? Shame on me!)
Oooh, neat. It makes some sense: memory is heavily context-dependent, and so it would make sense that changing context, or even thinking about changing context, would affect that.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the interest of amnesia. ;) It's such an intense expression of control...
If you were able to, something as simple as doing the hypnosis in a different actual physical room from where you ask the subject about recall could be a fun thing to play with.