• What conclusions do the researchers draw from their results? 
• Are the conclusions important? Why or why not? 

Are the conclusions important? 

Eich et al. discussed the results in terms of their initial hypotheses that interpersonality amnesia would be obtained in the personality-specific, word-stem completion implicit memory task and that interpersonality priming would be obtained in the general, data-driven picture-fragment completion implicit memory task. 

Although the authors stated that their research does not directly address the question of whether DID is a "real" disorder, it seems hard to believe that a person "faking" DID could suppress one form of implicit memory and not another form.  As well, the concept of implicit memory implies that it is information that is not even consciously or explicitly available to the person.  So how could someone suppress memory he/she isn't even aware of? 

Eich et al. raised the question of how DID might impair memory but did not speculate further.  Research on memory impairments in people with DID could, however, shed light on the relative amount (or lack) of overlap among different types of memory. 

It also seems that psychologists could use the findings of this research as an aid in diagnosis of DID.  Given the great number of new cases of DID that have been diagnosed and the controversy over whether DID is a real mental disorder, the simple tasks designed by Eich and his colleagues could be used in clinical settings. 
 

[Please remember to complete the evaluation survey for this Reading the Research. The evaluation  link is on the References page at the end of this module. Thanks!]