I think the highlights of the last few articles are page 134 (3rd page of the PDF) from “The Ordinary Nature of Alien Abduction Memories” and pages 140-141 (pp. 2-3 of the PDF) from “The Construction of Space Alien Abduction Memories.”

The former details the very small percentages of those who experience at least four of Jacobs’ five “abduction events” and how the small percentage (2%) can be accounted for by equally rare but less spectacular explanations. This points to the need among abduction researchers to provide some form of corroborative evidence that rules out the alternative explanations. Only then can ANYTHING out of the “terrestrial” range of possibilities be entertained with coherence.

The latter deals with how humans can indeed construct false memories. Especially interesting is the role of hypnosis in the formulation of those false memories, since abductions are overwhelmingly “remembered” under hypnosis.

On the other hand, I haven’t seen any of these researchers deal with physical evidence of some physical event (e.g., marks on the body). The phenomenon of luminescence on the body discovered by Derrel Sims of course came along much later than these articles.

Here are the next two articles:

6. Escaping the Self or Escaping the Anomaly? By: Hall, Robert L.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p143, 6p; Abstract Focuses on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Newman and Baumeister’s explanation for claims of UFO abductions; Factors that lead to the development of false memories.

7. When Explanations Fail: Science and Pseudoscience in Psychology. By: Hull, Jay G.. Psychological Inquiry, 1996, Vol. 7 Issue 2, p149, 3p; Abstract Presents comments on the article ‘Toward an Explanation of the UFO Abduction Phenomenon: Hypnotic Elaboration, Extraterrestrial Sadomasochism, and Spurious Memories,’ by Leonard S. Newman and Roy F. Baumeister, which appeared in the April 1996 issue of the journal ‘Psychological Inquiry.’ Lack of internal coherence in Newman and Baumeister’s explanation for claims of UFO abductions.