What evidence is there for successful posthypnotic suggestion where a subject carries out an action that was suggested to them under hypnosis, not only upon the suggested trigger but also without consciously knowing, before they do it or at the moment they do it, why they are doing it? For example they might do it
- when somebody says something to them,
- when they hear a specified non-verbal sound, such as a clap or a whistle, or
- when a certain time of day is reached.
I am interested in the case when in the waking state they do not consciously decide to do the action, and when, in addition to this, it is not the kind of reflex or other action that they would have done normally had it not been for the hypnosis.
This question is not about what goes through their mind after they have done the action, not even very soon after. Perhaps they "find" a rational reason for having done it that does not feature hypnosis, or they may be puzzled about why they did it, or they may reason right away that it must have been suggested to them during hypnosis, or perhaps they suddenly remember the actual making of the suggestion during the hypnotic session. Another possibility is that they don't recognise that they have done it. But that's not the question.