Unconscious auditory information-processing during general anaesthesia

Abstract

This dissertation aims to examine the possibility of cognitive processing and memory storage in anaesthesia. It consists of four parts. The first section provides a brief outline of unconscious mental processes in psychological research. Next, a review of the experimental studies of unconscious perception duting anaesthesia is given. The third part contains four empirical investigations of stimulus registration in anaesthetized patients. Finally, the research findings are evaluated, and implications for clinical practice in anaesthesiology and suggestions for future research are presented