Procedural memory in dissociative identity disorder: when can interidentity amnesia be truly established?

R.J.C. Huntjens*, A. Postma, L. Woertman, O. van der Hart, M.L. Peters

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

In a serial reaction time task, procedural memory was examined in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Thirty-one DID patients were tested for inter-identity transfer of procedural learning and their memory performance was compared with 25 normal controls and 25 controls instructed to simulate DID. Results of patients seemed to indicate a pattern of inter-identity amnesia. Simulators, however, were able to mimic a pattern of inter-identity amnesia, rendering the results of patients impossible to interpret as either a pattern of amnesia or a pattern of simulation. It is argued that studies not including DID-simulators or simulation-free memory tasks, should not be taken as evidence for (or against) amnesia in DID.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)377-389
JournalConsciousness and Cognition
Volume14
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2005

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