Information processing during hypnotically suggested sex change.

During hypnotically suggested sex change, 36 real (12 virtuoso and 24 high hypnotizable) and 18 simulating (low hypnotizable) individuals listened to a story involving a male and a female character. They subsequently reported their experience and recall of the story. Virtuosos were less likely than highs and simulators to identify with the character consistent with their suggested sex. However, virtuosos recalled more information about the character consistent with their suggested sex than did highs and simulators. The authors discuss the findings in terms of attention and the selective processing of information during hypnosis. They conclude that character identification was not the major factor that influenced the recall of virtuosos and suggest that virtuosos may have processed aspects of the information in a more self-referential way and thus encoded and recalled it more effectively.