Memory for events occuring under anesthesia

Abstract

A number of anecdotal reports suggest that people have memories for incidents that happened while they were anesthetized. The present study investigated this possibility by studying an anesthetized patient's later memory for a word list. During an abdominal myomectomy, the patient was read a list of 100 unrelated words. Three subsequent memory tests were given, at 28, 53 and 82 hours after exposure. Recognition was at chance level. The results cast doubt on the suggestion that anesthetized patients have memory for events occuring while unconscious. © 1985.