Memory Distortion in People Reporting Abduction by Aliens

Summary of Memory Distortion in Alien Abductee Study

A summary of "Memory Distortion in People Reporting Abduction by Aliens"

Introduction

This is a summary of the article by Clancy et al., 2002. The prevalence of alien abduction stories has been increasing in recent history (Bartholomew& Howard, 1998; Newman & Baumeister, 1997). Psychologists have more recently interpreted the stories as evidence of memory distortion (Newman & Baumeister, 1997). Previously published accounts of abduction follow a certain pattern (Hopkins, 1981; Mack, 1994; Streiber, 1987). These narratives share features that are considered a cultural phenomenon due to the media (Lynn, Pintar, Stafford, Marmelstein & Lock, 1998). Sleep paralysis is a non-pathological incident. During sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep occurs, during which the body experiences full body paralysis. If a person wakes during REM sleep, they may experience this paralysis consciously. Full body paralysis lasts no more than a couple of minutes. Hallucinations may be experienced at this time (Hufford, 1982; Spanos et al., 1993). These hallucinations are sometimes interpreted as the aftermath of an alien abduction. These people often seek therapy to recall what happened prior to full consciousness but after sleep was achieved (Lynn, Pintar, Stafford, Marmelstein & Lock, 1998). Only 15% of those who experience sleep paralysis also conclude that an abduction was the cause (Hufford, 1982).

The Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm was used to study false recall and recognition in three groups: recovered memory, repressed memory and a control, where no abductions were claimed. Four hypotheses were tested. 1) The recovered memory group should show higher false recall and recognition than the repressed memory and control group. 2) Recovered memory and repressed memory groups should score higher on false recall and recognition than the control group. 3) Recovered memory group should score highest, followed by repressed memory group, followed by the control group. 4) Recovered memory and repressed memory groups should score higher than the control groups on a schizotypal tendency measurement.

Methods

Participants

The experimental groups (recovered memory and repressed memory) were recruited through a local newspaper in the Harvard area. The advertisement sought out those who claim to have been contacted or abducted by aliens to participate in a memory study. Harvard also advertised for the control group in a local newspaper looking for participants to engage in a memory study. The recovered memory group consisted of six men and five women. They all shared a similar sequence of events in their abduction memories. All members of this group independently sought explanations and consequently recovered memories of abductions. The repressed memory group consisted of five men and four women. They all described events that they concluded afterwards to be an abduction. Yet, none in this group have any memories of the abduction. The control group consisted of seven men and six women. None in this group reported ever having been abducted. All participants signed an informed consent form and were paid for their time in the study.

Measures

Participants completed several inventories prior to their laboratory visit. These tests assess symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress disorder, hypnotic susceptibility, depersonalization (along with memory lapse and absorption) and depression. The final inventory measured four schizotypal and schizophrenia- related measures: perceptual aberration, unconventional forms of causation, and ideas of reference and extreme manifestation of schizophrenia liability. A one-way ANOVA showed no evidence of differences in age or education among groups.

Materials

Participants were presented with word lists that share a common theme within the list. The lists were randomly picked from 24 lists. The lists chosen were then randomly assigned to contain 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 or 15 items. Lists assigned to contain zero words were used later as unrelated words in the recognition study. Since sample size is small, all participants were given the same randomized order.

Procedure

Booklets and pencils were given to participants to record their responses. Scratch paper was used for distracter math problems. Participants were told to study the words given because they would be asked to recall the later. Words were presented from a tape recorder. In between lists, participants solved four simple two-digit equations. They were given 30 seconds to complete the equations. The procedure was repeated for all 20 lists. They were then given 1.5 minutes to recall words from the list they just heard.

An 80-item recognition test was given following the recall tests. 40 items were words that have been previously studied. The other 40 items has not been studied.

Results

One-tailed t-tests were used to compute the effect-size correlation each distinction. This showed that the groups did not differ in their performance on the word lists containing zero items.

The first hypothesis was not upheld for false recall, p = .09. It was upheld for false recognition, p = .01. The second hypothesis was upheld for both false recall and recognition, both have p = .01. The third hypothesis was upheld for both false recall and recognition, both have p = .01. The fourth hypothesis was upheld for perceptual aberration and magical ideation scales, p = .03, p = .01, respectively. The referential thinking measure did not show a significant difference, p = .19. A mixed design ANOVA was conducted with three levels of between-subjects factor and five levels of a within-subject factor. No significant effect was found for false recall and recognition, p = .20 and p = .94, respectively. There were no significant findings in the Group x List Type for false recall and recognition. There was a significant effect of list type for true recall and true recognition, p = .01 and p = .07.

A pattern similar to that of recovered and repressed memories of childhood sexual assault was suspected in this population. A significant effect was found for absorption, p = .04. No significant effect was found for the dissociative experiences scale and the PTSD scale, p = .32 and p = .13, respectively.

Discussion

Four hypotheses were given in this experiment. Results from each were consistent with