Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e29206. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029206. Epub 2011 Dec 15.
Although forgetting is often regarded as a deficit that we need to control to optimize cognitive functioning, it can have beneficial effects in a number of contexts. We examined whether disrupting memory for previous numerical responses would attenuate repetition avoidance (the tendency to avoid repeating the same number) during random number generation and thereby improve the randomness of responses. Low suggestible and low dissociative and high dissociative highly suggestible individuals completed a random number generation task in a control condition, following a posthypnotic amnesia suggestion to forget previous numerical responses, and in a second control condition following the cancellation of the suggestion. High dissociative highly suggestible participants displayed a selective increase in repetitions during posthypnotic amnesia, with equivalent repetition frequency to a random system, whereas the other two groups exhibited repetition avoidance across conditions. Our results demonstrate that temporarily disrupting memory for previous numerical responses improves random number generation.
虽然遗忘通常被认为是我们需要控制的一种缺陷，以优化认知功能，但它在许多情况下可能会产生有益的影响。我们研究了在随机数字生成过程中破坏对先前数字反应的记忆是否会减弱重复回避（避免重复相同数字的倾向），从而提高反应的随机性。低暗示性、低分离性和高分离性高暗示性个体在控制条件下完成了随机数字生成任务，随后是催眠后遗忘先前数字反应的暗示，以及在暗示取消后的第二个控制条件下完成任务。高分离性高暗示性参与者在催眠后遗忘期间表现出选择性增加重复，其重复频率与随机系统相当，而其他两组在所有条件下都表现出重复回避。我们的结果表明，暂时破坏对先前数字反应的记忆可以提高随机数字生成的质量。
