The credibility and suggestibility of those manifesting symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) have resulted in significant criticism, as the recent explosion of rates of diagnosis lead some to mistrust the self reports of symptoms in DID. An important criterion for the diagnosis of DID is the inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. It is commonly believed that this amnesia is caused by a fragmentation of the self into independent identities. Most researchers, however, have found inter-identity memory transfer in patients who have otherwise claimed amnesia. It is unknown whether this memory transfer is implicit or explicit. This conflicting evidence shows a need in both clinical and research fields for an objective measure of memory beyond self-report. In the proposed study, specific memory paradigms and event-related potentials will be used, with the aim of dissociating implicit from explicit memory in order to examine the properties of inter-identity memory transfer in DID patients. By applying these objective memory measures to the study of DID, the proposed study will lead to an understanding of the extent to which memory processes are interrupted in DID patients. ? ?
| Drag, Lauren L; Bieliauskas, Linas A; Kaszniak, Alfred W et al. (2009) Source memory and frontal functioning in Parkinson's disease. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 15:399-406 |
| Kong, Lauren L; Allen, John J B; Glisky, Elizabeth L (2008) Interidentity memory transfer in dissociative identity disorder. J Abnorm Psychol 117:686-92 |
