Lisa Foan

Publications of Lisa Foan

• Suggested visual hallucination without hypnosis enhances activity in visual areas of the brain.

  Authors: William J McGeown, Annalena Venneri, Irving Kirsch, Luca Nocetti, Kathrine Roberts, Lisa Foan, Giuliana Mazzoni

  Consciousness and cognition. 11/2011; 21(1):100-16.

  This functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study investigated high and low suggestible people responding to two visual hallucination suggestions with and without a hypnotic induction.This functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study investigated high and low suggestible people responding to two visual hallucination suggestions with and without a hypnotic induction. Participants in the study were asked to see color while looking at a grey image, and to see shades of grey while looking at a color image. High suggestible participants reported successful alterations in color perception in both tasks, both in and out of hypnosis, and showed a small benefit if hypnosis was induced. Low suggestible people could not perform the tasks successfully with or without the hypnotic induction. The fMRI results supported the self report data, and changes in brain activity were found in a number of visual areas. The results indicate that a hypnotic induction, although having the potential to enhance the ability of high suggestible people, is not necessary for the effective alteration of color perception by suggestion.

• The effects of observation and gender on psychogenic symptoms.

  Authors: Giuliana Mazzoni, Lisa Foan, Michael E Hyland, Irving Kirsch

  Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association. 03/2010; 29(2):181-5.

  To assess the effects of modeling and its interaction with gender in the production of psychogenic symptoms. Healthy volunteers were asked to inhale an inert substance described as a suspectedTo assess the effects of modeling and its interaction with gender in the production of psychogenic symptoms. Healthy volunteers were asked to inhale an inert substance described as a suspected environmental toxin that had been reported to provoke 4 physical symptoms. Subsequently, half of the participants observed a confederate inhale and display the 4 expected symptoms. To control for the general tendency of women to report more physical symptoms than men, participants were also asked to rate the presence of 4 unexpected symptoms. Symptom ratings at 10-min intervals over a 1-hr period. With unexpected symptoms controlled, observation of symptom displays increased reports of expected symptoms significantly. In addition, the presence of another person of the same gender as the participant increased the production of expected symptoms, even when symptoms were not modeled by the confederate. There was also a trend for women to show more expected symptoms than men. Although the effect of modeling was independent of gender, the mere presence of a same-gender individual, as opposed to a person of the opposite gender, increased reports of expected symptoms, regardless of whether the second person (i.e., the confederate) displayed symptoms.