A signal detection study of the effects of suggested improvement on the monocular visual acuity of myopes

Abstract

2 groups of 8 Ss each, matched for suggestibility and degree of myopia, were assessed by a signal detection method in their ability to make a monocular spatial discrimination, both before and after 15 minutes of listening either to music or to taped suggestions that vision would improve. There was a significantly greater improvement in sensitivity on the part of the group of Ss listening to suggestions, and within this group, hut not within the group of Ss listening to music, there was a significant negative correlation (r = −.67) between S's initial sensitivity and the amount by which it increased. There was no significant difference between the amounts by which the criterion changed in the 2 groups.