THE EFFECT OF VOLUNTARY AND POST-HYPNOTIC ATTENTION ON THE RECALL OF DIGITS

Using as Ss 25 secondary school children selected for their yielding of suggested post-hypnotic amnesia, recall of digits was tested under 5 conditions: I. Control condition, 9 homogeneous digits: II. Control condition, heterogeneous material, seventh position with letter of the alphabet substituted for a digit: III. Active voluntary attention to seventh digit: IV. Passive voluntary attention (post-hypnotic) to seventh digit: V. Passive voluntary inhibition (post-hypnotic) of seventh digit. The von Restorff effect (accentuation of seventh item) was shown in the control condition with the letter as a heterogeneous item, and also demonstrated under condition of both active and passive attention to the digit in the seventh position. The passive voluntary condition differed, however, from the active voluntary condition.