

Once again, patient choice of words that were given while they were unconscious indicate some implicit memory formation. A manner of testing for conceptual priming is through category generation in which words related under a category are given to patients under general anesthesia and then told to name words related by the category when conscious. Conceptual priming refers to the result of implicit memory leading to related ideas of that memory. Responses matching words given during the operation suggest implicit memories were formed. The procedure involves reciting a list of words to patients who are under general anesthesia and asking them upon recovery to complete words given a variety of word stems. For example, “stem completion” is a well-known method in testing for implicit memory in the arena of anesthesia. The former refers to the most basic type of implicit memory, where the perception of an idea comes to the individual more easily than before the memory was formed. These studies focused on perceptual and conceptual priming. Since Levinson’s initial study, there have been multiple studies conducted on this particular topic. Such results suggest the possibility of implicit memory formation while under general anesthesia. In this state, four of them remembered the fake crisis perfectly, another four reacted anxiously as they remembered something had occurred during the operation, and the remaining two patients had no recollection of any such event. None of the ten patients were able to recall such an event in the recovery process, but a month later, all were subjected to hypnosis. At one point during the operation, the anaesthetist yelled out in concern about the patient’s well-being before the surgery progressed as usual. In his study, ten patients were put under general anesthesia for the purpose of dental surgery. The introductory experiment to the topic of potential memory formation under anesthesia was performed by B.W. Testing for implicit memories may point to the development of memories under anesthesia, though cannot determine whether the subject was conscious or not during memory formation. On the other hand, explicit memory refers to purposeful recollection, or memories of which we are conscious.
Implicit memory refers to the memories that one is unable to consciously recall but manifest themselves in our behaviors. In order to understand the possibility of memory formation while an individual is under general anesthesia, it is imperative to recognize the distinction between implicit and explicit memory. Is it possible for patients to remember their experience while under general anesthesia? Read on to learn how memories such as these may form and be utilized.
