Procedural memory in dissociative identity disorder: When can inter-identity amnesia be truly established?

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....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Consciousness and cognition 2005-06, Vol.14 (2), p.377-389
Main Authors: Huntjens, Rafaële J.C., Postma, Albert, Woertman, Liesbeth, van der Hart, Onno, Peters, Madelon L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Amnesia - diagnosis
Amnesia - physiopathology
Biological and medical sciences
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
DID
Dissociation
Dissociative Disorders - diagnosis
Dissociative Disorders - physiopathology
Female
Humans
Inter-identity amnesia
Medical sciences
Memory
Miscellaneous
Procedural memory
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Reaction Time
Severity of Illness Index
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1053-8100
1090-2376
DOI:10.1016/j.concog.2004.10.001