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Brain Dynamics and Hypnosis: Attentional and Disattentional Processes
Abstract
This article reviews recent research findings, expanding an evolving neuropsychophysiological model of hypnosis (Crawford, 1989; Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992), that support the view that highly hypnotizable persons (highs) possess stronger attentional filtering abilities than do low hypnotizable persons, and that these differences are reflected in underlying brain dynamics. Behavioral, cognitive, and neurophysiological evidence is reviewed that suggests that highs can both better focus and sustain their attention as well as better ignore irrelevant stimuli in the environment. It is proposed that hypnosis is a state of enhanced attention that activates an interplay between cortical and subcortical brain dynamics during hypnotic phenomena, such as both attentional and disattentional processes, among others, are important in the experiencing of hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena. Findings from studies of electrocortical activity, event-related potentials, and regional cerebral blood flow during waking and hypnosis are presented to suggest that these attentional differences are reflected in underlying neurophysiological differences in the far fronto-limbic attentional system.
... Se han descrito diferencias neurofisiológicas, tanto basales como después de la hipnosis, en individuos que puntúan alto, medio o bajo en escalas psicométricas de susceptibilidad (Gruzzelier J. 1999, Lichtenberg P. et al 2004. Estas diferencias parecen señalar la existencia de efectos opuestos en individuos con alta y baja susceptibilidad a la hipnosis, así como distintos estilos de procesamiento de la información, no relacionados con la propia hipnosis (Woody E.Z. 1997, Balthazard C.G. 1993, Ray W.J. 1997, Pascalis V. 1999, Crawford H.J. 1994, Aikins D. & Ray W.J. 2001. ...
... La flexibilidad cognitiva ha sido descrita como uno de los factores que pueden contribuir a la susceptibilidad hipnótica (Aikins D. & Ray W.J. 2001, Gruzzelier J. & Warren K. 1993. Los sujetos con puntuaciones altas en las escalas psicométricas de susceptibilidad hipnótica muestran una disociación funcional en condiciones basales de la región frontolateral del hemisferio izquierdo y una actividad mayor del lóbulo temporal anterior en el hemisferio derecho (Gruzzelier J. 1999), mayores cambios interhemisféricos con distintas actividades en mediciones electroencefalográficas (Pascalis V. 1999), mayor habilidad de filtrado atencional (Crawford H.J. 1994), y patrones cerebrales basales asociados con imágenes mentales (Ray W.J. 1997). Por su parte, los sujetos con puntuaciones bajas muestran, con hipnosis, mayor coherencia frontal y mayor capacidad de concentración que en condiciones basales (Gruzzelier J. 1999). ...
... Por su parte, los sujetos con puntuaciones bajas muestran, con hipnosis, mayor coherencia frontal y mayor capacidad de concentración que en condiciones basales (Gruzzelier J. 1999). Las diferencias entre sujetos que puntúan alto y bajo podrían reflejar diferencias neurofisiológicas basales de la actividad fronto-límbica (Crawford H.J. 1994, Lichtenberg P. et al 2004. ...
Chema Nieto (2009), Estudio de caso único; hipnosis en el tratamiento de verrugas digitales. Hipnológica 1, 29-32 www.hipnologica.org
La psicoterapia con hipnosis ha demostrado, en diversos estudios, evidencia esperanzadora en el tratamiento de verrugas de distinta localización y severidad (...). El presente estudio describe el tratamiento de verrugas digitales en una única sesión psicoterapéutica con hipnosis. Además de la brevedad y eficacia del tratamiento, el caso resulta significativo por dos motivos. En primer lugar, por la utilización, como sugerencia hipnótica, de las propias imágenes curativas desarrolladas por el paciente. En segundo lugar, por el modo original con que el sujeto estructura los ejercicios autohipnóticos, de manera que se descarta la posibilidad de una curación espontánea. Además, la baja sugestibilidad de este paciente servirá de base para una reflexión final en torno a las escalas de sugestionabilidad y susceptibilidad hipnótica.
... These findings demonstrate that brainstem activities mediating defensive reflexes can receive a top-down modulation to select adequately the external potential threats. Moreover, factors such as expectation [57] and hypnotizability can affect both pain sensation and startle responses [58][59][60][61][62]. Although research has demonstrated that fear-evoking stimuli consistently potentiate the magnitude of the blink reflex [36,[63][64][65][66], studies investigating the pain potentiation of the startle response has produced only inconclusive results. ...
... Thus, in the present study, to disentangle these contrasting results, we evaluated how tonic cold pain can influence motor and ERP components of the auditory startle response (ASR). Furthermore, hypnotic analgesia is one of the most reliable hypnotic phenomena [61,[74][75][76][77][78] and, although the influence of cognition and attention in placebo and hypnosis analgesia have been demonstrated, the neural mechanisms underlying to these two treatments are still poorly understood. Therefore, aim of the present study was an attempt to evaluate how hypnotic susceptibility, pain expectation, hypnosis and placebo treatments can influence tonic pain relief and how this effect is reflected on eye-blink and ERP components of the ASR. ...
... Our interpretation of the present findings is also supported by previous reports showing that LH individuals, compared to the HH ones, usually possess weaker abilities to focus and sustain their attention as well as to pop out, from the environmental context, irrelevant stimuli and these differences are reflected in underlying brain dynamics [31,61,145]. This conclusion fits well with Horton and colleagues' neuroimaging findings of a larger rostrum of corpus . ...
We evaluated the influence of hypnotizability, pain expectation, placebo analgesia in waking and hypnosis on tonic pain relief. We also investigated how placebo analgesia affects somatic responses (eye blink) and N100 and P200 waves of event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by auditory startle probes. Although expectation plays an important role in placebo and hypnotic analgesia, the neural mechanisms underlying these treatments are still poorly understood. We used the cold cup test (CCT) to induce tonic pain in 53 healthy women. Placebo analgesia was initially produced by manipulation, in which the intensity of pain induced by the CCT was surreptitiously reduced after the administration of a sham analgesic cream. Participants were then tested in waking and hypnosis under three treatments: (1) resting (Baseline); (2) CCT-alone (Pain); and (3) CCT plus placebo cream for pain relief (Placebo). For each painful treatment, we assessed pain and distress ratings, eye blink responses, N100 and P200 amplitudes. We used LORETA analysis of N100 and P200 waves, as elicited by auditory startle, to identify cortical regions sensitive to pain reduction through placebo and hypnotic analgesia. Higher pain expectation was associated with higher pain reductions. In highly hypnotizable participants placebo treatment produced significant reductions of pain and distress perception in both waking and hypnosis condition. P200 wave, during placebo analgesia, was larger in the frontal left hemisphere while placebo analgesia, during hypnosis, involved the activity of the left hemisphere including the occipital region. These findings demonstrate that hypnosis and placebo analgesia are different processes of top-down regulation. Pain reduction was associated with larger EMG startle amplitudes, N100 and P200 responses, and enhanced activity within the frontal, parietal, and anterior and posterior cingulate gyres. LORETA results showed that placebo analgesia modulated pain-responsive areas known to reflect the ongoing pain experience.
... The analysis of experiential changes associated with the induction of hypnotic states has revealed increases in mental ease and absorption, followed by reductions in self-monitoring and orientation, which in turn lead to feelings of automaticity (Price, D. D., 1996;Rainville, P. and Price, D. D., 2004). Increases in absorption (e.g., concentration and fascination) are consistent with the central role of attention processes in hypnotic responsiveness (Tellegen, A. and Atkinson, G., 1974;Nadon, R. et al., 1987;Radtke, H. L. and Stam, H. J., 1991;Balthazard, C. G., and Woody, E. Z., 1992;Crawford, H. J., 1994). However, the subjective increase in automaticity has been identified as the classical suggestion effect characterizing hypnosis (Weitzenhoffer, A. M., 1980). ...
... In agreement with the involvement of basic consciousness-related processes, increases in mental ease and absorption are associated with the changes in activity within brain networks underlying the regulation of vigilance and attention, including brainstem and medial thalamic nuclei, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices (Maquet, P. et al., 1999;Rainville, P. et al., 1999b;. Those findings are consistent with increases in rhythmic electroencephalographic activity within the theta frequency band, associated with attention and mental imagery (Sabourin, M. E. et al., 1991;Crawford, H. J., 1994;Ray, W. J., 1997). Neurophysiological effects have been suggested to reduce the reciprocal inhibition between competing mental representations and processes, thereby facilitating the consideration of alternative experiences and allowing for a reinterpretation of sensory inputs during hypnosis (Rainville, P. and Price, D. D., 2004). ...
Synopsis
Hypnosis is a psychological intervention that produces changes in activity within brain networks involved in vigilance, attention, and self-monitoring, and associated with modifications in subjective experience. Additional suggestions for analgesia given during hypnosis produce highly specific changes in the brain responses to acute painful stimuli. This modulation of brain activity is also accompanied by a reduction in the peripheral nociceptive responses (motor and autonomic). Randomized clinical trials have further shown that hypnotic analgesic can help control pain and distress, and reduce the use of analgesic drugs in various clinical conditions. The available evidence demonstrates that hypnotic analgesia involves the modulation of neurophysiological activity within pain-related neural systems and improves the ability to control clinical pain.
... One exception seems to be the construct of absorption, i.e., the measure of the predisposition to narrow one's own attention on imaginative and sensory experiences (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974). Although previous studies have shown that high-hypnotizable individuals, compared to low-hypnotizable individuals, possess a superior ability to focus and sustain their attention (Crawford, 1994;De Pascalis, 1999;De Pascalis & Scacchia, 2016;Hoeft et al., 2012;Jiang et al., 2016), the measure of absorption, provided by the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS; Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), yields, at best, a modest correlation with measures of hypnotizability. In addition, contextual factors seem to play a pivotal role in the relationship between measures of hypnotizability and the TAS (Roche & McConkey, 1990). ...
... We speculate that different metasuggestions elicit specific cognitive strategies or activate silent personality dispositions that suppress or facilitate the response to specific suggestions as a function of individual differences in hypnotizability (Laurence et al., 2008;Tellegen, 1981;Woody, Bowers, & Oakman, 1992). In line with previous findings (Crawford, 1994;De Pascalis, 1999;De Pascalis & Scacchia, 2016;Hoeft et al., 2012;Horton et al., 2004), the lack of differences between the HIP-H-IND and HIP-I-IND scores in high-hypnotizable participants could be due to their more flexible cognitive style and executive control compared to low-and medium-hypnotizable participants. Indeed, individuals with higher hypnotic capacity could experience natural hypnotic phenomena during their own everyday life without the need for any formal induction (Barabasz, 2005;Dell, 2016;Spiegel & Spiegel, 2004). ...
Although hypnotizability exhibits high across-time and across-test consistencies, it is not clear (a) how different preambles to a hypnotic procedure (metasuggestions) influence responsiveness to suggestions and the strength of the association between two hypnotizability scales and (b) how hypnotizability relates to absorption and empathy. In Experiment 1, nonclinical participants (N = 152 women) were administered the Modified Tellegen Absorption Scale (MODTAS), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Hypnotic Induction Profile (HIP), and Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C). In Experiment 2, nonclinical participants (N = 188; 105 women and 83 men) were administered the MODTAS, IRI, and Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A). The induction scores of the HIP (HIP-IND) and the SHSS:C scores showed a significantly stronger correlation when the HIP was introduced to the participants after hypnosis metasuggestion (HIP-H-IND) than after imagination metasuggestion (HIP-I-IND). Metasuggestion was a moderator of the association between HIP-IND and SHSS:C scores. Participants with low and medium, but not with high, hypnotizability levels on the SHSS:C showed significantly higher scores on the HIP-I-IND than on the HIP-H-IND. The strong correlations between the SHSS:C, HIP-H-IND, and HIP eye-roll (HIP-ER) scores indicate that both the HIP-H-IND and HIP-ER are robust measures of hypnotizability. Absorption and empathy were not significantly associated with hypnotizability. Women were more hypnotizable than men, as assessed by the HGSHS:A. The clinical relevance of metasuggestions, intended to increase responsiveness to suggestions, is discussed as a strategy to improve treatment outcomes.
... There is evidence suggesting that hypnotizability level correlates with sustained and selected attentional abilities (Crawford, Brown, & Moon, 1993;Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992;Lichtenberg, Bachner-Melman, Ebstein, & Crawford, 2004;Raz, 2005). It was supposed that HH individuals possessed more efficient controlled attention systems compared to low hypnotizable (LH) subjects (Crawford, 1994;Gruzelier, 1998). However, the debate on the association of hypnotizability and attentional abilities is still open (see Egner, Jamieson, & Gruzelier, 2005). ...
... The obtained results suggest that N100 and P300 measures may be considered sensitive indices of hypnotizability level related to attention and information processing, supporting the psychophysiological model (Crawford, 1994;Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992;Horton et al., 2004) that HH subjects have more effective frontal attentional systems involved in detecting, integrating, and filtering relevant information. In our study, the advantages in attention and information processing manifested as better oddball task performance, shorter frontal N100 latencies, different patterns of N100 responses to target 98 ANNA V. KIRENSKAYA ET AL. and nontarget stimuli, and overall increase of P300 amplitude with maximum in frontal region. ...
N100 and P300 auditory evoked potentials in 2-stimulus oddball paradigm were analyzed in high (HH, n = 18) and low (LH, n = 15) hypnotizable participants under waking condition. LH subjects committed more errors than HH subjects. HH subjects demonstrated shorter N100 latencies at frontal electrodes and significant N100 differences between target and nontarget stimuli (higher N100 amplitude and increased latency at parietal sites to targets vs. nontargets), whereas LH subjects failed to show any differences. The overall increase of P300 amplitude with frontal-central localization of P300 maximum was found in HH subjects compared to LH subjects. The obtained results support the psychophysiological model of HH individuals having more effective frontal attentional systems involved in detecting, integrating, and filtering relevant information.
... Selection for a biological disposition to these highly focused internal states of awareness and limbic-frontal integration characterized by theta wave discharge patterns is illustrated by hypnosis (Crawford, 1994). Highly hypnotizable people have attentional filtering mechanisms that provide a concentration with a simultaneous dissociation of some cognitive features [see Cardeñ a & Alvarado, this volume]. ...
... Enhanced limbic frontal interaction characteristic of highly hypnotizable individuals is a pattern of brain functioning that typifies the integrative mode of consciousness, an enhanced interaction between the limbic and the frontal brain that produces integration across the neuraxis and holistic information-processing styles (Crawford, 1994) Dissociation is reflected in the highly susceptible hypnotic subject's ability to engage an alternative reality that is demanded by a social relationship with the hypnotist, expressed in the concept of rapport that reflects the person's cooperation with the hypnotist. This feature of hypnotic susceptibility also exemplifies integration, epitomized in the ability to subject oneself to the theory of mind manifested by others in complying with the requests of the hypnotist. ...
Preface: Extending Our Knowledge of Consciousness ix
Charles T. Tart
Chapter 1 Altering Consciousness: Setting Up the Stage 1
Etzel Cardeña
Chapter 2 A Paradigm for Understanding Altered Consciousness:
The Integrative Mode of Consciousness 23
Michael Winkelman
Part I: Historical Perspectives
Chapter 3 Consciousness Alteration Practices in the West from
Prehistory to Late Antiquity 45
Yulia Ustinova
Chapter 4 Spirit Possession and Other Alterations of Consciousness
in the Christian Western Tradition 73
Moshe Sluhovsky
Chapter 5 Altered Consciousness from the Age of Enlightenment
Through Mid–20th Century 89
Etzel Carden˜ a and Carlos S. Alvarado
Chapter 6 Reconceptualizing the Field of Altered Consciousness:
A 50-Year Retrospective 113
Julie Beischel, Adam J. Rock, and Stanley Krippner
Part II: Cultural Perspectives
Chapter 7 Eastern Approaches to Altered States of Consciousness 139
Jonathan Shear
Chapter 8 Shamanism and the Alteration of Consciousness 159
Michael Winkelman
Chapter 9 Altered Consciousness in Society 181
Charles Whitehead
Chapter 10 Spiritual Technologies and Altering Consciousness in
Contemporary Counterculture 203
Graham St John
Part III: The Humanities
Chapter 11 Altered Consciousness in Philosophy 229
Jennifer M. Windt
Chapter 12 Altered Consciousness in Religion 255
Antoon Geels
Chapter 13 Colored Inklings: Altered States of Consciousness
and Literature 277
Wendy E. Cousins
Chapter 14 Altered Consciousness in Performance: West and East 301
Phillip B. Zarrilli
Chapter 15 Altered Consciousness and Modern Art 327
Mark Levy
Chapter 16 Time Is the Key: Music and Altered States
of Consciousness 355
Jo¨rg C. Fachner
... The use of introspective hypnosis, as meditation, often includes an induction phase to increase mental absorption followed by a suggestion phase providing directions to elicit particular changes in thoughts and behaviors. The top-down regulatory processes, like attention, cognitive control and monitoring, play a central role in mediating responses to hypnotic and meditative selfintrospection (61)(62)(63)(64)(65)(66). Specifically, hypnosis and meditation modulate top-down processes to dramatically change the implementation of cognitive strategies during hypnotic and meditation responses (64). ...
... We suggest here that diverse rhythms, or variations of a rhythm, can support different components of a cognitive and consciousness' act, with multiple rhythms potentially playing multiple roles (103). Top-down regulatory processes-e.g., attention, cognitive control and monitoring-play a central role in mediating responses to hypnotic suggestions (7,(61)(62)(63)(64)(65)(66). Specifically, hypnosis modulates top-down processes to dramatically change the implementation of cognitive strategies during hypnotic responses (64). ...
Human body is a biological, open system and maintains itself in the changing environment. Disease state is cured by many medicinal systems for healing. Esoteric healing (through introspective hypnosis, meditation and spiritual intercession) is the system where its believers regard Supreme Being as Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient. Such persons take ill health as a boon and pray through meditation that He may by His Mercy grant health or if God wishes otherwise, they happily accept it so that they keep moving ahead on their spiritual path. This study is a review of literature, where results clearly point towards better psychological and spiritual healing in patients who believe in esoteric cures. Modern science in terms of cognitive psychology or neurophysiology has begun to emphasize the role of consciousness but, that is confined only to the physical world. It is only with the advent of Param Purush Puran Dhani Soami Ji Maharaj (200 years ago) that in the religion of Saints, the ultimate consciousness or the Super Consciousness of the highest order has been revealed.
... However, these differences are primarily observed between HHs and LHs, excluding medium hypnotizable individuals (MHs). Crawford [122] proposed a dynamic neuropsychophysiological model of hypnosis involving the activation of the frontal-limbic attentional system. This model posits that attentional and disattentional processes are crucial in experiencing hypnosis, with low theta (3-6 Hz) and high theta (6-8 Hz) rhythms linked to these processes. ...
This comprehensive review delves into the cognitive neuroscience of hypnosis and variations in hypnotizability by examining research employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electroencephalography (EEG) methods. Key focus areas include functional brain imaging correlations in hypnosis, EEG band oscillations as indicators of hypnotic states, alterations in EEG functional connectivity during hypnosis and wakefulness, drawing critical conclusions, and suggesting future research directions. The reviewed functional connectivity findings support the notion that disruptions in the functional integration between different components of the executive control network during hypnosis may correspond to altered subjective appraisals of the agency during the hypnotic response, as per dissociated and cold control theories of hypnosis. Building upon existing EEG results, a promising exploration avenue involves investigating how frontal lobes' integrated functioning with other cortical regions influences hypnosis and individual differences in hypnotizability during both waking and hypnotic states. Future studies investigating the effects of hypnosis on brain function should prioritize examining distinctive activation patterns across various neural networks. A practical approach entails simultaneously analyzing the causal relationships in functional connectivity linked to cognitive, physiological, and behavioral responses.
... Except for theta activity, findings regarding EEG measures in most of the other frequency bands show both increases and decreases with hypnosis (see review by Wolf et al., 2022). Crawford (1994) proposed a dynamic neuropsychophysiological model of hypnosis (Crawford, 1989;Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992), suggesting that hypnosis is a state of enhanced attention that activates a fronto-limbic attentional dynamic system during hypnotic phenomena, such as hypnotic analgesia. This model identifies low-frequency theta (3-6 Hz) and high theta (6-8 Hz) rhythms as candidates for frequency bandwidths that underlie the attentional and disattentional processes characteristic of hypnosis and hypnotic responses to suggestions. ...
... Neutral hypnosis is commonly used as a relaxation technique. Even if many of its physiological correlates as well as the main neuropsychological characteristics of hypnotizable individuals have been described, it is still unclear whether the hypnotic state (state theory) or the cognitive capabilities of awake hypnotizable individuals per se (trait theory) are responsible of the relaxation effects induced by hypnosis [1]. Indeed, specific suggestions have been proven to induce cognitive emotional experiences, associated to specific physiological patterns, which can be different in relation to hypnotizability and/or hypnosis. ...
Neutral hypnosis is commonly used as a relaxation technique. Even if many of its physiological correlates as well as the main neuropsychological characteristics of hypnotizable individuals have been described, it is still unclear whether the hypnotic state (state theory) or the cognitive capabilities of awake hypnotizable individuals per se (trait theory) are responsible of the relaxation effects induced by hypnosis [1]. Indeed, specific suggestions have been proven to induce cognitive emotional experiences, associated to specific physiological patterns,which can be different in relation to hypnotizability and/or hypnosis. In recent studies [2] it has been demonstrated that awake hypnotizable subjects, at difference with non hypnotizable ones,were able to buffer the autonomic effects of a moderately unpleasant cognitive stimulation. [...]
... The frontostriatal network and dopaminergic system are also closely involved with hypnosis (Nash & Barnier, 2008). The capability to ignore irrelevant information and to focus attention, which is typical with hypnosis (Crawford, 1994), is normally problematic for adults with ADHD. Since hypnosis and ADHD both influence the same frontal brain areas and attentional mechanisms, it is interesting to combine these three phenomenahypnosis, attention and ADHDinto the same thesis. ...
Background. The present thesis combines studies on hypnosis, attention, and attention deficits from various perspectives to extend our understanding of hypnosis and its applications. This thesis includes experimental and clinical research of hypnosis from the perspectives of brain functions, behavioral performance, and clinical interventions. This thesis investigated whether brain oscillations, pre-attentive auditory information processing, auditory attentional performance, and deficits of attention can be influenced by hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions. Two studies focused on highly hypnotizable healthy participants, one study compared adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to control participants, and one investigated solely adults with ADHD.
Aims. The present thesis examined: 1) whether hypnosis differs from the wake state as measured with the spectral power density of electroencephalography (EEG); 2) whether hypnosis and hypnotic suggestions can be used to influence bottom-up and/or top-down auditory attention. The former was indexed by the pre-attentive mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the auditory event-related potential (ERP). The latter was measured as the performance on a Continuous Performance Test (CPT); 3) whether hypnotherapy and hypnotic suggestions can be applied to adults with ADHD to relieve their symptoms in a long-lasting way, and to improve their attentional performance in an auditory reaction time task requiring sustained voluntary attention.
Methods. The present thesis applied various methods for investigating the research aims: EEG (Studies I–II), behavioral reaction time task (Study III) and self-report measures for evaluating the follow-up results of two individual psychological treatments, hypnotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in ADHD adults (Study IV). The first three studies had a similar procedural structure including four experimental conditions: 1) pre-hypnosis, 2) after a hypnotic induction (i.e., neutral hypnosis), 3) hypnotic-suggestion condition with study-specific suggestions and 4) post-hypnosis. The first and second studies included a common EEG experiment with nine highly hypnotizable participants. In the first study, EEG spectral power was measured and analyzed at ten frontal, central, and posterior/occipital electrodes. In the second study, the MMN was recorded at three frontal electrodes using a passive oddball paradigm with sinusoidal standard (500 Hz) and deviant (520 Hz) tone stimuli. Both studies included in the hypnotic-suggestion condition suggestions aimed at altering the tone perception (“all tones sound similar in pitch”). The third study examined, in adults with ADHD and in healthy control participants, whether hypnotic suggestions can influence performance in a three-minute version of the auditory CPT. The suggestions aimed at improving speed and accuracy. The fourth study used a controlled, randomized design in investigating the effectiveness of hypnotherapy in treating adults with ADHD. It compared the six-month follow-up outcome of the hypnotherapy with the outcome of a short CBT in various self-report symptom scales. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and t-tests were used in the statistical analysis of the studies.
Results. The results of Study I revealed no EEG power changes between pre-hypnosis and hypnosis conditions, challenging the current understanding that the increase of theta power is a marker of the hypnosis state. Contrary to the results of a few earlier studies, no statistically significant differences in the MMN amplitudes between the conditions were found in Study II, indicating that the auditory pre-attentive processing may not be influenced by hypnosis or hypnotic suggestions. Study III indicated that hypnotic suggestions have an effect on the reaction times in the CPT both in ADHD adults and healthy control participants. Study IV revealed that the treatment benefits remained during the six-month follow-up with both hypnotherapy and CBT groups when measured with self-report ADHD symptom scales. The benefits of hypnotherapy and CBT, however, differed in general psychological well-being, anxiety and depression, and approached significance in the ADHD symptoms scale, indicating a better long-term outcome for hypnotherapy.
Conclusion. Results of the present thesis indicate that: 1) the spectral power of EEG in the theta band cannot be used as a reliable marker of the hypnotic state in highly hypnotizable participants; 2) hypnotic suggestions can be used to influence performance in a sustained attention reaction time task, but they do not modulate the early pre-attentive auditory information processing, reflected by MMN; 3) hypnosis, hypnotic suggestions, and short hypnotherapy treatments can be successfully applied to adults with ADHD to improve their performance in a sustained attention reaction time task, and to reduce their ADHD and other symptoms in a long-lasting (at least half a year) way. Thus, hypnosis/hypnotherapy seems to be a usable treatment method for the ADHD adult population.
... Ponadto osoby o wysokiej podatności na hipnozę mogą mieć lepszą sprawność w zakresie filtrowania uwagi. Taka elastyczność poznawcza może wiązać się z lepszym skupianiem i odwracaniem uwagi od bodźca nocyceptywnego [45,46]. Jensen [44,47] przedstawił listę sugestii opartych na procesach neurofizjologicznych związanych ze zjawiskiem bólu oraz hipnozy. ...
Wstęp
Celem pracy była analiza związków pomiędzy podatnością na hipnozę a cechami temperamentu, takimi jak: żwawość, perseweratywność, wrażliwość sensoryczna, reaktywność emocjonalna, wytrzymałość i aktywność.
Materiał i metody
W badaniach wykorzystano Skalę Wyobraźni Twórczej (SWT) Wilson i Barbera oraz Formalną Charakterystykę Zachowania – Kwestionariusz Temperamentu (FCZ-KT). Badaniem zostały objęte osoby z jednego z liceów ogólnokształcących. Analizie statystycznej poddano wyniki 120 osób (89 kobiet i 31 mężczyzn) w wieku 17–19 lat.
Wyniki
Z analizy korelacji wynika, że wrażliwość sensoryczna koreluje istotnie z podatnością na hipnozę. Na podstawie charakterystyki rozkładu zmiennej hipnoza oraz testu t-Studenta stwierdzono, że różnice między kobietami i mężczyznami są nieistotne statystycznie pod względem podatności na hipnozę. Na podstawie analizy regresji (zmienne temperamentalne a hipnoza) zaobserwowano, że w zasadzie tylko jedna zmienna daje możliwość predykcji podatności na hipnozę – wrażliwość sensoryczna (p = 0,003). Wykonano również analizę dyskryminacyjną; na podstawie zmiennych temperamentalnych można poprawnie zaklasyfikować 68% przypadków różniących się zmienną hipnoza (grupy skrajne).
Wnioski
Stwierdzono, że wrażliwość sensoryczna koreluje istotnie z podatnością na hipnozę. Podobnie, spośród cech temperamentalnych jedynie wrażliwość sensoryczna jest jej predyktorem. Nie stwierdzono różnic w zakresie podatności na hipnozę w zależności od płci.
... Així, per una banda, pel que fa a l'alfa baixa (8-10 Hz), va veure que era més alta en aquells que van realitzar la imatgeria cinestèsica seguint instruccions auditives, més en l'hemisferi dret i més en la regió temporal dreta; per altra banda, l'alfa alta (11-13 Hz) va ser major en l'hemisferi dret i en la regió temporal dreta. (Crawford, 1994). La seva implicació cognitiva, però, es va reflectir en els increments de l'activitat theta 2 (6-8 Hz) (Crawford et al., 1996). ...
Historically, mind studies have been separated from those carried out on the brain and behavior; the mind was still an abstract concept. However, later on, neurosciences and sports psychology have gone further and created a new discipline: sports neurosciences, aimed at exploring the physical and mental confines of an athlete and make them grow more and more. Neurosciences can, therefore, help bring closer psychological and biological areas, cognitive and mechanical structures. Several researches have been done on activation in situations under pressure, imagery (in hypnosis) and electroencephalogram (EEG); however, there is an obvious lack of studies that analyze how to monitor mental training on activation in situations under pressure by means of EEG, both in the office and on the field. Consequently, the objective of the present thesis is to monitor mental training on activation during a neutral situation and in a situation under pressure, by analyzing the heart rate, brainwaves and subjective registrations in athletes with and without previous imagery experience. The pilot test analyzed the heart rate behavior in the activation of 7 athletes during imagery of under-pressure situations. In it, there was an increase in the heart rate in the situations under pressure, which was experienced, mainly, at the moment of highest pressure. From Study 1-A and 1-B neutral situation imagery (tennis service) was compared with imagery of under-pressure situations on 16 tennis players. On the one hand, in Study 1-A the activation during imagery of a neutral situation was monitored through the analysis of the heart rate, brainwaves and subjective registrations of tennis players with and without prior experience in imagery; on the other hand, in Study 1-B activation during imagery was also monitored, although this time in a situation under pressure (tennis match). Results show that imageries from both neutral and under-pressure situations increased the heart rate, especially on those subjects with imagery experience; being this increase higher in the case of imagery of situations under pressure and finding its highest point at the moment of maximum pressure of the imagery: interval 5-6. Regarding brainwaves, imagery of both neutral and under-pressure situations (either by intervals, hemispheres, zones or channels) led to a decrease in the gamma wave activity, both in tennis players with previous experience in imagery and without. In the case of Study 1- B, an increase of the gamma wave was also observed in interval 5-6, which corresponds to the moment of maximum pressure. Regarding entropy, in Study 1-A it was lower in the neutral situation imagery, both in those with imagery experience and without; while in Study 1-B, the approximate and sample entropies were higher in the imagery of the situation under pressure in those without imagery experience. With regards to the subjective registrations, in psychological abilities (activation, self-confidence, motivation and concentration) of Studies 1-A and 1-B there were no significant differences between pre and post neither between before, during and after, except in Study 1-B between pre and post for the activation at during with a significance level of 10%. Regarding the reality of imagery, in Study 1-A the most real dimensions, from highest to lowest, were kinesthetic, visual, emotional, tactile and auditory (score from 3 to 5). Those that were more difficult to be perceived as real and to be aware of were the gustatory and olfactory ones in Study 1-A and only the olfactory in 1-B. In Studies 2-A and 2-B mental training on activation during imagery of an under-pressure situation was monitored through a protocol with and without mental training carried out in the office (Study 2-A) and on the court (Study 2-B) based on the analysis of the heart rate, brainwaves and subjective registrations in a tennis player with high imagery experience in order to be able to see how activation developed, session by session, through the mental training carried out. Results show that both in the office (Study 2-A) and on the court (Study 2-B) the tennis player’s heart rate increased in the imagery of the situation under pressure (I.3-8), being higher in the office and in Protocol 2. It decreased in the mental techniques application imagery (I.8-13) in Protocol 2, being also greater in the office; it decreased further in the final breathing attention (I.13-f), being higher in the office and in Protocol 1. In the case of brainwaves, the beta wave increased in the imagery of the situation under pressure (I.3-8), both in the office and on the court, being higher in the office in Protocol 1 and on the court in Protocol 2. Also, gamma, theta and delta waves increased in Protocol 2 on the court. Beta, gamma, delta and theta waves decreased in the mental techniques application imagery (I.8-13), both in the office and on the court, being higher on the court, except for the gamma wave, which was higher in the office. Alpha and beta waves increased in the final breathing attention (I.13-f), both in the office and on the court, being higher in the office in Protocol 2. Regarding entropy (approximate entropy and sample), it decreased in the imagery of the situation under pressure (I.3-8), both in the office and on the court and both in Protocol 1 and 2, being higher on the court and in Protocol 2. It increased in the mental techniques application imagery (I.8-13) in the office as well as on the court, being higher on the court. It also increased in the final breathing attention (I.13-f), both in the office and on the court, being higher in the office in both protocols but markedly in Protocol 2. Regarding subjective registrations, the tennis player managed to feel the pressure in the imagery of the situation under pressure both in the office and on the court before, during and after between points (highest pressure moment), being higher in Protocol 2. In the mental techniques application imagery he regulated the activation to feel it at an optimal level (7), although he found it more difficult on the court. All imageries were realized with great reality in all dimensions (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, gustatory, kinesthetic and emotional), being the olfactory dimension more difficult to feel in the situation under pressure in the office for both Protocols, and on the court in Protocol 2, and the gustatory one on the court and in Protocol 2. Unexpectedly, it was also more difficult to feel the auditory one in the office in Protocol 1. In the mental techniques application imagery, the gustatory dimension was more difficult to feel both in the office (Study 2-A) and on the court (Study 2-B) and also, unexpectedly, the auditory one on the court. Therefore, the thesis results reflect the importance of monitoring the mental training of activation in situations under pressure; data of great use to improve neutral and under- pressure imagery and mental training in order to help athletes work on their activation. It is also useful to create neurofeedback protocols to increase the ability to perform imagery in athletes with both high and low experience and thus improve their mental training and self-awareness of under-pressure situations in their lives, what causes them, how they experience them and what they must do to deal with them.
... They take the closest published position to be that of Spanos (1986), but there are important precedents in the work of Crawford (1994), Raz et al. (2002), andSpiegel (2003) among others. In contrast, Jamieson's interoceptive predictive coding account is more closely integrated with empirical research in cognitive and affective neuroscience, in particular, recent findings on the role of the insula in interoception, homeostasis and emotion, and in the regulation of cognitive AN INSULA VIEW OF HYPNOTIC RESPONSES 125 processes through the salience network (Menon et al., 2019;Menon & Uddin, 2010). ...
The experience of being hypnotized is closely linked to changes in bodily experience or interoceptive sensations. Progress in the neuroscience of hypnotic motor suggestions, both ideomotor and challenge, implicates changes in the comparison processes between predicted (expected) and actual proprioceptive consequences of current action models and plans in behavioral and experiential response to these suggestions. These findings are interpreted as a form of active inference, minimizing prediction errors in the motor system. Hypnotic responses are proposed to be implemented as active inference of predictions (response expectancies) contained in the multilayered hierarchical self-world models generated by the acceptance of hypnotic suggestions. Acceptance of counterfactual suggested “realities” and active inference-like responses are enabled and sustained by a process of interoceptive predictive coding in which interoceptive inference suppresses interoceptive prediction errors and hence salience network and executive control network responses (effecting a form of dissociated control). These processes are mapped to known functional networks of posterior insula, dorsal anterior insula, and ventral anterior insula. Finally, this interoceptive predictive coding model of active inference in hypnotic responses is contrasted with the Martin and Pacherie (2019) model in which attention manipulates the precision of prediction errors.
... Indeed, we have sufficient evidence for the Highs' extraordinary ability to perform cognitive tasks. It is indicated by their peculiar attentional ability 87,88 , their proneness to disregard irrelevant information 89 , to voluntarily modulate their conscious experience according to specific suggestions 30 and to modify their state of consciousness voluntarily 90 . ...
The functional equivalence between mental images and perception or motion has been proposed on the basis of neuroimaging evidence of large spatially overlapping activations between real and imagined sensori-motor conditions. However, similar local activation patterns do not imply the same mesoscopic integration of brain regions active during imagery and perception or action. Here we present the first EEG evidence of topological equivalence between functional network organization at intermediate and global scales during tasks. We show that the degree of functional equivalence varies in the population and is associated with different magnitudes in the restructuring of the functional connectivity between imagery and real tasks. In particular, changes observed during imagery with respect to basal conditions account for the cognitive effort experienced during imagery, and subjects characterized by stronger functional equivalence exhibit smaller topological deviations in the imagination tasks performed after real tasks, thus showing learning effects. Altogether, our findings point to different sensori-cognitive information processing in the subjects showing different functional equivalence. We anticipate our results to be a starting point for a novel dynamical description of functional equivalence, which will be relevant for socio-cognitive theories of embodiment and cognitive formulations of how different selves emerge from neurophysiological assets.
... Staring at a spot, watching pendulum swinging, etc., are ways of focusing and sustaining in hypnosis [7]. Hypnosis literature describes the method used to reach the state as suppressing competing thoughts, or as dis-attending to competing stimuli [12]. Ayya Khema described it in meditation literature as letting go of thoughts and perceptions [13]. ...
Hypnosis is a state of mind that is characterized by focused attention and heightened receptivity for suggestions. It is either established by compliance with instructions or achieved naturally; the critical nature of the mind is bypassed during hypnosis and acceptable suggestions are delivered. Misperceptions about hypnosis by clinical practitioners and their clients have been shaped through years of inaccurate but interesting portrayals of hypnosis in books, plays, and movies. Part of the misperceptions is that individuals with seemingly magical powers to manipulate the unsuspecting innocent with their authoritative voice commands and penetrating eyes are depicted as hypnotists. This chapter will review the traditional and conventional approaches used in hypnosis, their advantages and disadvantages as well as where hypnosis is used as a complementary or alternative therapy to the modern day orthodox medicine. Despite the pejorative image display of hypnosis and misconceptions surrounding it, hypnosis still has numerous applications in contemporary medicine. Hypnotherapy conducted by a trained therapist is considered as a complementary or safe alternative to present day orthodox medication for numerous ailments.
... In loss of consciousness state, it's reported with reduced regional glucose metabolism rate (Song and Yu, 2015), global deduction of brain activity (Huang et al., 2016), reduced capacity of brain integration (Schrouff et al., 2011) and decreased functional connectivity in conscious networks (Boveroux et al., 2010). Oppositely, hypnosis is proposed to be an enhanced attentional state (Crawford, 1994;Jiang et al., 2017) with increased regional cerebral blood flood (Rainville et al., 2002), increased functional connectivity of executive and emotional control (Jiang et al., 2017), and participate in the consciousness regulation Halligan, 2009, 2013;Landry et al., 2017). Therefore, the enhanced/coupled correlations of brain activity within intrinsic networks (or even across the whole brain) during hypnosis, are hypothesized to be associated with the regulation of cognitive and perceptual consciousness. ...
Hypnosis is a psychological technology proved to be effective in respiratory motion control, which is essential to reduce radiation dose during radiotherapy. This study explored the neural mechanisms and cognitive neuroscience of hypnosis for respiration control by functional magnetic resonance imaging with a within-subject design of 15 healthy volunteers in rest state (RS) and hypnosis state (HS). Temporal fluctuation and signal synchronization of brain activity were employed to investigate the altered physiological performance in hypnosis. The altered correlations between temporal fluctuation and signal synchronization were examined within large scale of intrinsic networks which were identified by seed-wise functional connectivity. As a result, hypnosis was observed with increased activity in the right calcarine, bilateral fusiform gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus, and with decreased activity in the left cerebellum posterior lobe (inferior semilunar lobule part). Compared to RS, enhanced positive correlations were observed between temporal fluctuation and signal synchronization in HS. Most importantly, coupled correlation was observed between temporal fluctuation and global signal synchronization within the identified intrinsic networks (R = 0.3843, p > 0.05 in RS; R = 0.6212, p < 0.005 in HS). The findings provide implications for the neural basis of hypnosis for respiratory motion control and suggest the involvement of emotional processing and regulation of perceptual consciousness in hypnosis.
... EEG findings further suggest differences in relation to specific hypnotic suggestions. Taken together, the most commonly pronounced differences were reported in the theta spectrum (Crawford, 1994;Graffin et al., 1995;Sabourin et al., 1990), upper alpha (Terhune et al., 2011;Williams & Gruzelier, 2001) and gamma (De Pascalis, Cacace, & Massicolle, 2004) frequency bands. However, as Lynn, Kirsch, Knox, Fassler, and Lillienfeld (2007) correctly pointed out, discrepancies in the methods used, inconsistent findings, and the absence of replication prevent any firm conclusions being drawn at this stage. ...
Studies of brain-plasticity changes in hypnosis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron-emission-tomography (PET) and electroencephalography (EEG) were reviewed. The authors found evidence in those studies that hypnosis is a powerful and successful method for inhibiting the reaction of the fear circuitry structures. Limitations of the studies were critically discussed, and implications for future research were made. The authors are currently using a portable fNIRS apparatus to integrate the scanning device into real life situations in medical practice. Their aim is to disentangle the neuronal mechanisms and physiological correlates in patients with severe fear of medical treatments when directly confronted with anxiety-provoking stimuli and to assess the effects of a brief hypnosis. Drawing on evidence from several technological modalities, neuroimaging and physiological studies pave the road to a better scientific understanding of neural mechanisms of hypnosis.
... All subjects in our study were highly susceptible to hypnosis too which might explain the similar effect of the hypnotic and conscious experience of happiness on EEG spectral power in both groups. This makes more sense as previous studies have shown that cognitive functioning especially attentional processes are stronger in high-susceptible individuals and can be enhanced more than low-susceptible individuals following hypnotic suggestion (Crawford, 1994;Iani, Ricci, Baroni, & Rubichi, 2009). Therefore, experiencing happiness via hypnotic suggestion can be experienced like real by these individuals. ...
Objective: Processing of positive emotions in depressed individuals is different from healthy ones but its physiological correlates especially during different levels of consciousness is not yet well-understood. This study investigated physiological correlates of emotional processing of positive emotions during hypnosis and consciousness in depressed individuals compared to healthy control with the electroencephalogram (EEG). Method: Forty individuals classified in two groups of depression (N = 20, 10 females) and healthy control (N = 20, 10 females) participated in this study. Participants in each group underwent a positive emotional experience during hypnotic state and conscious state while their EEG pattern was recorded. The EEG power was analyzed for both groups during hypnosis and conscious state. Results: Results showed that experience of happiness significantly changed EEG pattern compared to the resting state in both groups with a significant increase in the Beta band in the right hemisphere. However, the increase in the right temporal beta activity was significantly higher in healthy subjects compared to depressed ones. Furthermore, the experience of happiness was not significantly different during hypnotic and conscious states in both groups. A significant increase in the Alpha band was also observed in both groups during hypnotic experience but not conscious state. Conclusions: Electrophysiological processing of happiness is not different during hypnosis and consciousness but is associated with an increase of Beta band in the right temporal hemisphere in both depression and healthy subjects.
... Among the cognitive components related to hypnosis, the ability to focus attention has been shown to account for a proportion of the variance in hypnotic responsiveness (e.g., Crawford, 1994;Karlin, 1979; but see Dienes et al., 2009) and variations in the neural correlates of attention have been related to the hypnotizability of the participants (Cojan, Piguet, & Vuilleumier, 2015). During both the induction and suggestion phases in current hypnotizability scale protocols, participants are expected to focus on their body sensations. ...
We tested a working hypothesis that the ideomotor and motor-control suggestions measured by current hypnotizability scales depend on the activation of an interoception-imagination processing loop. In three experiments, participants were exposed to an induction phase, Items 3 (mosquito hallucination) and 8 (arm immobilization) of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C, and a new version of Item 8 involving the additional activation of imaginative and interoception processes. We found that this modified version of Item 8 elicited greater responsiveness to suggestion, irrespective of its position in the sequence of hypnotic items. We argue that this interoception-imagination loop hypothesis provides a useful information processing analysis for understanding several hypnotic phenomena.
... Indeed, we have sufficient evidence for the highs extraordinary ability to perform cognitive tasks. It is indicated by their peculiar attentional ability (Crawford, 1994;Cojan et al., 2015), their proneness to disregard irrelevant information (David and Brown, 2002), to voluntarily modulate their conscious experience according to specific suggestions (Meyer and Lynn, 2011) and to modify their state of consciousness voluntarily (Pekala et al., 2017). It has been proposed that the mechanisms underlying cognitive activities change activation patterns characterized by a more segregated, within network structure into other patterns characterized by preeminent between networks connectivity (Sporns, 2013). ...
The functional equivalence (FE) between imagery and perception or motion has been proposed on the basis of neuroimaging evidence of large spatially overlapping activations between real and imagined sensori-motor conditions. However, similar local activation patterns do not imply the same mesoscopic integration of brain regions, which can be described by tools from Topological Data Analysis (TDA). On the basis of behavioral findings, stronger FE has been hypothesized in the individuals with high scores of hypnotizability scores (highs) with respect to low hypnotizable participants (lows) who differ between each other in the proneness to modify memory, perception and behavior according to specific imaginative suggestions. Here we present the first EEG evidence of stronger FE in highs. In fact, persistent homology shows that the highs EEG topological asset during real and imagined sensory conditions is significantly more similar than the lows. As a corollary finding, persistent homology shows lower restructuring of the EEG asset in highs than in lows during both sensory and imagery tasks with respect to basal conditions. Present findings support the view that greater embodiment of mental images may be responsible for the highs greater proneness to respond to sensori-motor suggestions and to report involuntariness in action. In addition, findings indicate hypnotizability-related sensory and cognitive information processing and suggest that the psycho-physiological trait of hypnotizability may modulate more than one aspect of the everyday life.
... Electroencephalography (EEG) and neuroimaging research support a link between attentional processes and hypnotic susceptibility in nonhypnotized individuals (e.g., Cojan et al., 2015; Crawford, 1994;Landry and Raz, 2015). Numerous studies have used reaction time tasks, including modified Stroop tasks (Stroop, 1935), Erikson Flanker tasks (Eriksen and Eriksen, 1974), and Posner Cueing tasks (Posner, 1980), among other measures of attention, to investigate possible attention-related differences in performance associated with hypnotic susceptibility (Cojan et al., 2015;Dienes et al., 2009;Dixon et al., 1990;Dixon and Laurence, 1992;Egner et al., 2005;Farvolden and Woody, 2004;Iani et al. 2006Iani et al. , 2009Raz et al., 2005;Rubichi et al., 2005;Varga et al., 2011). ...
Responsiveness to suggestions while hypnotized is termed hypnotic susceptibility. An association between reaction time and hypnotic susceptibility has been demonstrated, but whether distinct changes in brain activity accompany this relationship remains unclear. We investigated the effect of hypnotic susceptibility on the speed of information processing and motor cortical preparatory activity. Twenty-one “low” (Low HS ) and fifteen “high” (High HS ) hypnotically susceptible right-handed participants performed precued simple (SRT) and choice (CRT) reaction time key-press tasks under hypnotized and non-hypnotized conditions. Force and surface electromyography data were recorded from left and right index fingers. The contingent negative variation (CNV) was derived from electroencephalography data. Mean reaction time and premotor time was shorter in High HS participants than Low HS participants for both simple and choice reaction time tasks. High HS participants in the hypnotized state performed fewer errors than High HS participants in the non-hypnotized state and Low HS participants in either state for the SRT task. High HS participants made fewer errors overall than Low HS participants for the CRT task. Mean C3/C4 CNV amplitude was larger in High HS than in Low HS participants. Furthermore, larger CNV amplitude was associated with shorter premotor time. Our findings indicate that shorter reaction time in the high hypnotically susceptible group is associated with a greater change in brain activity during motor preparation. One interpretation is that hypnotic susceptibility and neural mechanisms of arousal and selective attention are linked.
... An important proposal in the field has been that interindividual differences in hypnotic suggestibility would result from highs exhibiting more efficient executive functions, such as better sustained and/or selective attention, than lows or mediums (Crawford, 1991(Crawford, , 1994Crawford, Brown, & Moon, 1993). The relevant literature shows strong inconsistency, however. ...
Hypnotic suggestions can lead to altered experiences of agency, reality, and memory. The present work is primarily concerned with alterations of the sense of agency (SoA) following motor suggestions. When people respond to the suggestion that their arm is rising up all by itself, they usually have a feeling of passivity for their action. The mechanisms leading to such alterations of the SoA are still controversial. We propose a theoretical model based on the framework of predictive coding: The view that the brain constantly generates hypotheses that predict sensory input at varying levels of abstraction and minimizes prediction errors either by updating its prior hypotheses—perceptual inference—or by modifying sensory input through action—active inference. We argue that suggested motor behavior and the experience of passivity accompanying it can be accounted for in terms of active inference. We propose that motor suggestions optimize both proprioceptive predictions and actual proprioceptive evidence through attentional modulation. The comparison between predicted and actual sensory evidence leads to highly precise prediction errors that call for an explanation. The motor suggestion readily supplies such an explanation by providing a prior of nonagency to the subject. We present this model in detail and discuss how it relates to, and differs from, other recent models of hypnosis. We compare its predictions with the predictions derivable from these other models. We also discuss the potential application of our predictive account to reality and memory alterations in hypnosis and offer an explanation of interindividual differences in hypnotic suggestibility.
... Dissociation describes mental disintegration related to stress influences, 1-4 which leads to alterations of neural activity that may dissociate certain external and internal information out of awareness leading to states of divided consciousness. 1,[5][6][7][8] In this context, dissociation also reflects a cognitive conflict related to implicitly consolidated traumatic memories. 2,6 The process of mental disintegration and conflicting information processing according to recent findings is likely closely associated with activity of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) that is related to detecting a cognitive conflict and selection among competing stimuli. ...
Background:
According to recent data, dissociation may play an important role in borderline personality disorder (BPD), nevertheless specific influences of psychotropic medication on dissociative symptoms in BPD and their therapeutic indications are largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess relationships of dissociative symptoms in BPD patients with levels of psychotropic medication and compare these results with a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia.
Materials and methods:
In this study, we investigated 52 BPD patients and compared the results with a control group of 36 schizophrenia patients. In all participants, we assessed actual day doses of antipsychotic medication in chlorpromazine equivalents and antidepressant medication in fluoxetine equivalents. Dissociative symptoms were measured by Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), and other psychopathological symptoms were measured using Health of the Nation Outcome Scales.
Results:
Results indicate that dissociative symptoms measured by DES were significantly correlated with antipsychotic medication (Spearman R=0.45, P<0.01) in chlorpromazine equivalents and antidepressant medication in fluoxetine equivalents (0.36, P<0.01). These relationships between medication and dissociative symptoms were not found in the control group of schizophrenia patients.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that levels of antipsychotic medication and antidepressant medication are significantly associated with dissociative symptoms in BPD but not in schizophrenia.
... Indeed, the common thread to these cognitive factors (heightened illusory recollection, source monitoring errors, fantasy proneness) and sensitivity to modified state of consciousness (high hypnotizability) may be a greater tendency to more automatic top-down processing. Top-down cognitive processes may represent core vehicles to some types of unusual states or experience (such as hypnosis; see Crawford, 1994;Egner & Raz, 2007;Raz, 2004). In this view, functions such as attention or monitoring systems putatively afford individuals the cognitive means to focus their mental efforts towards internally-generated percepts. ...
When facing a life-threatening situation –or a situation perceived as such, some people will report having lived various phenomenological experiences (e.g., out-of-body experiences, encountering deceased relatives) that are intriguing by their extra-ordinary aspect. These distinct perceptual experiences are commonly referred to as the phenomenon of “near-death experience” (NDE). To date, the scientific literature devoted to this phenomenon contains a predominance of opinion and review articles, while there is a lack of empirical investigations that try to understand its rich phenomenology. Through four data-driven studies, we had two main objectives: (1) to better characterize the memory of NDE, as well as (2) to better define the cognitive profile of their experiencers (i.e., people who have experienced a NDE).
... These alterations may be related to significant and rapid shifts of neural activation patterns which may split off (or dissociate) certain external and internal perceptual information or activated memory contents out of awareness which may lead to distinct states of divided consciousness (Hilgard 1986;Crawford 1994;Rainville et al. 2002;Vermetten and Douglas 2004;Bob 2008). ...
The term splitting is defined as a process of mental division of complex structures related to cognitive and affective conflicting experiences. Recent findings indicate that mental splitting in schizophrenia might be represented by disrupted organization of neural information transmission. This disturbed neural information processing likely may determine deficits in mental disorganization described in neuroscientific theories of disturbed connectivity, corollary discharges and dynamic complexity. In this context, a purpose of this article is to review basic neuroscience theories of schizophrenia that complementarily reflect mind-brain information connectivity. These underlying disruptions of neural integrity might represent neural correlates of the splitting in schizophrenia that provide novel descriptions of mind-brain relationships.
... Attention has also been investigated by measuring event-related evoked potentials (ERPs) and identifying the physiological changes associated with hypnosis (see Barabasz & Barabasz, 1995;Barabasz, Barabasz, & Warner, 2001;De Pascalis, 1999;De Pascalis & Russo, 2013). Researchers investigated the differences between subjects with high and low susceptibility to hypnosis and the relationship between susceptibility to specific suggestions and control of theta (Blais, Boucher, Sabourin, & Vallerand, 1990;Crawford, 1994;Graffin, Ray, & Lundy, 1995;Sabourin, Cutcomb, Crawford, & Pribram, 1990), upper alpha (Williams & Gruzelier, 2001;Terhune, Cardeña, &Lindgren, 2011), andgamma (De Pascalis, 2007;De Pascalis & Penna, 1990) frequencies. ...
This article examines research on hypnosis and suggestion, starting with the nineteenth-century model proposed by Enrico Morselli (1852–1929), an illustrious Italian psychiatrist and psychologist. The authors conducted an original psychophysiological analysis of hypnosis, distancing the work from the neuropathological concept of the time and proposing a model based on a naturalistic approach to investigating mental processes. The issues investigated by Morselli, including the definition of hypnosis and analysis of specific mental processes such as attention and memory, are reviewed in light of modern research. From the view of modern neuroscientific concepts, some problems that originated in the nineteenth century still appear to be present and pose still-open questions.
... This stare into the void, typical of hypnotized subjects, consists of objective and measurable changes in the optokinetic reflex, the pupillary reflex, and of programming a saccade to a single target (Kallio et al. 2011). Not surprisingly, the prevailing scientific explanation of hypnosis-how it comes about and what it stands for-is based on this premise: the narrowing down and focusing of attention (Crawford 1994(Crawford , 2001Gruzeler 1998). ...
Theory of mind is an important mental faculty. However, despite almost half a century of research, we only have a limited understanding of its evolutionary past. The present article proposes a novel hypothesis on the origin of this unique human capacity. According to this hypothesis theory of mind descended from two, closely related, defensive reactions, namely tonic immobility and immobilization stress. Both reactions are conserved in many vertebrate species and are highly prevalent in immature individuals. They are produced by a combination of manual handling and restraint (common in many nursing activities) and implicated in the management of stressful encounters. Most importantly, they have been shown to facilitate eye-contact, gaze-following, and intentional attributions. These traits, and several others detailed in the text, make them prime candidates in the search for the origin of theory of mind. The article presents conceptual arguments and empirical facts in support of this hypothesis.
... Other forms of visual Salience can also be utilised to draw and hold attention (Landry, et al., 2014). For instance, the graphics provided at Figure 7 could be used to draw a subject's attention, because they are highly salient (due to the use of colour and contrast) (Crawford, 1994). Just as importantly, each of the graphics in Figure 7 provide visual structures that facilitate Recognition. ...
Research conducted by Cojan, et al. (2015) identified that susceptibility to hypnosis is closely associated with the Executive Control capabilities within the brain, which manage attentional (1) focus. Similarly, experiments conducted by Jiang, et al. (2016) demonstrated that processes related to the management of attention through the Executive Control Network (ECN), Default Mode Network (DMN), and Salience Network (SN) were highly influential in facilitating a hypnotic state. This paper outlines an integrated framework for understanding how these aspects of attentional control can be managed practically to facilitate hypnotisation, by leveraging exogenous (2) and endogenous (3) factors. This approach builds on the attention management framework explained in Hilliard (2016), which can be used to apply effective top-down (4) and bottom-up (5) controls to influence a person's perception (6) and cognition (7). The factors encapsulated in this model include Salience (8) , perceptual/cognitive Recognition, Value & Reward, Tasks & Plans, complexity, and arousal. As this paper demonstrates, each of these factors can influence attentional prioritisation, and they can therefore be applied to facilitate hypnotisation.
... The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00426-017-0850-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. executive control than lows, evidenced by greater sustained and selective attentional abilities (Crawford 1991(Crawford , 1994Crawford, Brown, & Moon 1993; for a recent review about the role of frontal executive functions in hypnosis, see; Parris in press). However, results for different baseline performances-from outside the hypnotic context-according to participants' hypnotisability level in various executive and attentional dimensions are mixed, with studies reporting no significant behavioural differences (Cojan, Piguet, & Vuilleumier 2015;Dienes et al. 2009;Egner, Jamieson, & Gruzelier 2005;Iani, Ricci, Gherri, & Rubichi 2006;Iani, Ricci, Baroni, & Rubichi 2009;Raz, Fan, & Posner 2005;Varga, Németh, & Szekely 2011) but, importantly, other studies showing significant differences in either direction (Crawford et al. 1993;Dixon, Brunet, & Laurence 1990;Dixon & Laurence 1992;Farvolden & Woody 2004;Miller, Hennessy, & Leibowitz 1973;Miller 1975;Rubichi, Ricci, Padovani, & Scaglietti 2005;Wallace 1986;Wallace & Garrett 1973;Wallace, Garrett, & Anstadt 1974;Wallace, Knight, & Garrett 1976). ...
Previous research has suggested that highly hypnotisable participants (‘highs’) are more sensitive to the bistability of ambiguous figures—as evidenced by reporting more perspective changes of a Necker cube—than low hypnotisable participants (‘lows’). This finding has been interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that highs have more efficient sustained attentional abilities than lows. However, the higher report of perspective changes in highs in comparison to lows may reflect the implementation of different expectation-based strategies as a result of differently constructed demand characteristics according to one’s level of hypnotisability. Highs, but not lows, might interpret an instruction to report perspective changes as an instruction to report many changes. Using a Necker cube as our bistable stimulus, we manipulated demand characteristics by giving specific information to participants of different hypnotisability levels. Participants were told that previous research has shown that people with similar hypnotisability as theirs were either very good at switching or maintaining perspective versus no information. Our results show that highs, but neither lows nor mediums, were strongly influenced by the given information. However, highs were not better at maintaining the same perspective than participants with lower hypnotisability. Taken together, these findings favour the view that the higher sensitivity of highs in comparison to lows to the bistability of ambiguous figures reflect the implementation of different strategies.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00426-017-0850-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
... sociocognitive approach such as that of Coe and Sarbin which emphasizes the importance of the context; Coe & Sarbin, 1977). Intermediate positions have been proposed in which the effects of hypnosis induction procedures converge on key psychological processes, namely attention (De Pascalis, 1999a;Crawford, 1994) or response-set/expectancy (Kirsch, 2000), which are thought to mediate all hypnosis-related effects (formal causes). Another perspective suggests that hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness (e.g. ...
Modern medical hypnosis is increasingly recognized as a valid method for pain control based on accumulating evidence demonstrating robust effects on the physiological manifestations of pain-related processes. Besides the operational description of the conditions under which hypnosis is typically produced, hypnosis-related phenomena can be described in relation to changes in brain activity, cognitive processes and subjective experience. There is a variety of techniques and strategies that can be used to produce hypnotic analgesia and a variety of experiential, physiological and behavioral effects that can be produced. Functional imaging studies have confirmed that feelings of relaxation, absorption and automaticity typically reported during hypnosis are related to changes in the activity of partly separate brain networks involved in vigilance, attention and self-agency, respectively. Some forms of hypnotic analgesia have been shown to modulate spinal reflexes, various autonomic responses, brain electrical potentials and sensory or affective aspects of pain experiences induced by acute nociceptive stimuli. Analgesic effects are mediated by the activation of cerebro-spinal inhibitory pathways and/or supra-spinal modulatory processes affecting the cortical targets of the spino-thalamic pathways. The scientific evaluation of hypnotic interventions to relieve clinical pain has been undertaken in various conditions but many studies lack methodological rigor and the field is still missing comprehensive evaluations of the types of hypnotic approach and methods most suitable to treat different pain conditions. Nevertheless, a number of well-designed studies demonstrate the efficacy of hypnotic analgesia, thereby supporting this approach to pain management and investigations of basic mechanisms.
This comprehensive review delves into the cognitive neuroscience of hypnosis and variations in hypnotizability by examining research employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electroencephalography (EEG) methods. Key focus areas include functional brain imaging correlations in hypnosis, EEG band oscillations as indicators of hypnotic states, alterations in EEG functional connectivity during hypnosis and wakefulness, drawing critical conclusions, and suggesting future research directions. The reviewed functional connectivity findings support the notion that disruptions in the available integration between different components of the executive control network during hypnosis may correspond to altered subjective appraisals of the agency during the hypnotic response, as per dissociated and cold control theories of hypnosis. A promising exploration avenue involves investigating how frontal lobes’ neurochemical and aperiodic components of the EEG activity at waking-rest are linked to individual differences in hypnotizability. Future studies investigating the effects of hypnosis on brain function should prioritize examining distinctive activation patterns across various neural networks.
The article reviews the current knowledge regarding altered states of consciousness (ASC) (a) occurring spontaneously, (b) evoked by physical and physiological stimulation, (c) induced by psychological means, and (d) caused by diseases. The emphasis is laid on psychological and neurobiological approaches. The phenomenological analysis of the multiple ASC resulted in 4 dimensions by which they can be characterized: activation, awareness span, self-awareness, and sensory dynamics. The neurophysiological approach revealed that the different states of consciousness are mainly brought about by a compromised brain structure, transient changes in brain dynamics (disconnectivity), and neurochemical and metabolic processes. Besides these severe alterations, environmental stimuli, mental practices, and techniques of self-control can also temporarily alter brain functioning and conscious experience.
This randomized, controlled trial tested the impact that hypnosis delivered through immersive virtual reality technology on background pain, anxiety, opioid use, and hospital length of stay in a sample of patients hospitalized for trauma. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either virtual-reality-induced hypnosis, virtual reality for distraction, or usual care during the course of their hospitalization. Mean number of treatment sessions was 3. A total of 153 patients participated in the study. Results indicated no significant differences between the experimental and control conditions on any outcome measures. This study used an early version of virtual reality technology to induce hypnosis and highlighted several important lessons about the challenges of implementation of this technology and how to improve its use in clinical settings.
This paper reconstructs and attempts to verify hypotheses made by Leonard Ravitz, Ernest L. Rossi, and Milton H. Erickson, during their research on the influence of hypnosis on the human electromagnetic field. Original charts measured electrodynamic voltage differences of 44 subjects. These voltage differences from Ravitz, Erickson and Rossi’s research were digitalized and analyzed with statistical software to check the significance of four hypotheses about ways hypnosis influences the individual’s electrodynamic recording. The results of this analysis of the magnitude of the subject’s electrodynamic tracing were: (1) there was a statistically significant difference between the prehypnotic condition and hypnosis; (2) there was a statistically significant difference between hypnosis and posthypnotic condition; (3) there was no significant difference between posthypnotic and prehypnotic condition; and (4) there was a statistically significant correlation between an induction of catalepsy and alterations in the electrodynamic tracing. The significance of these findings is discussed with applications to Rossi’s 4-Stage Creative Cycle.
Several theories of hypnosis assume that responses to hypnotic suggestions are implemented through top-down modulations via a frontoparietal network that is involved in monitoring and cognitive control. The current study addressed this issue re-analyzing previously published event-related-potentials (ERP) (N1, P2, and P3b amplitudes) and combined it with source reconstruction and connectivity analysis methods. ERP data were obtained from participants engaged in a visual oddball paradigm composed of target, standard, and distractor stimuli during a hypnosis (HYP) and a control (CON) condition. In both conditions, participants were asked to count the rare targets presented on a video screen. During HYP participants received suggestions that a wooden board in front of their eyes would obstruct their view of the screen. The results showed that participants’ counting accuracy was significantly impaired during HYP compared to CON. ERP components in the N1 and P2 window revealed no amplitude differences between CON and HYP at sensor-level. In contrast, P3b amplitudes in response to target stimuli were significantly reduced during HYP compared to CON. Source analysis of the P3b amplitudes in response to targets indicated that HYP was associated with reduced source activities in occipital and parietal brain areas related to stimulus categorization and attention. We further explored how these brain sources interacted by computing time-frequency effective connectivity between electrodes that best represented frontal, parietal, and occipital sources. This analysis revealed reduced directed information flow from parietal attentional to frontal executive sources during processing of target stimuli. These results provide preliminary evidence that hypnotic suggestions of a visual blockade are associated with a disruption of the coupling within the frontoparietal network implicated in top-down control.
In recent years, evidence linked hypnotizability to the executive control and information salience networks, brain structures that play a role in cognitive conflict resolution and perseveration (insisting on applying a previously learned logical rule on a new set). Despite the growing body of neuroimaging evidence, the cognitive phenotype of hypnotizability is not well understood. We hypothesized that higher hypnotizability would correspond to lower perseveration and set-shifting. Seventy-two healthy adults were tested for hypnotizability and executive functions (perseveration and set-shifting). Multiple regression analyses were performed to test the relationship between hypnotizability and perseveration and set-shifting. Higher hypnotizability was associated with lower perseveration after accounting for age and education. Hypnotizability significantly predicted perseveration but not set-shifting. Our results indicate an inverse relationship between trait hypnotizability and perseveration, an executive function that utilizes regions of both the executive control and the salience systems. This suggests that hypnotizability may share a common cognitive mechanism with error evaluation and implementation of logical rules.
Diagnosable only through a healthcare professional, Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) is a compensatory muscle hyperfunction of the laryngeal mechanism. A significant cause of this singing voice disorder is anxiety and is symptomatic of inefficient neuromuscular patterns in the larynx. Numerous noninvasive studio voice modalities treat or reduce the muscular and phonatory symptoms of MTD, but a more systemic treatment of underlying mental causes may be considered. Recent studies have shown positive psychological and neuromuscular implications using hypnosis. This paper argues using hypnosis and autohypnosis as a top-down approach to anxiety-induced MTD.
Variation of information in the firing rate of neural population, as reflected in different frequency bands of electroencephalographic (EEG) time series, provides direct evidence for change in neural responses of the brain to hypnotic suggestibility. However, realization of an effective biomarker for spiking behaviour of neural population proves to be an elusive subject matter with its impact evident in highly contrasting results in the literature. In this article, we took an information-theoretic stance on analysis of the EEG time series of the brain activity during hypnotic suggestions, thereby capturing the variability in pattern of brain neural activity in terms of its information content. For this purpose, we utilized differential entropy (DE, i.e., the average information content in a continuous time series) of theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands of fourteen-channel EEG time series recordings that pertain to the brain neural responses of twelve carefully selected high and low hypnotically sug-gestible individuals. Our results show that the higher hypnotic suggestibility is associated with a significantly lower variability in information content of theta, alpha, and beta frequencies. Moreover, they indicate that such a lower variability is accompanied by a significantly higher functional connectivity (FC, a measure of spatiotemporal synchronization) in the pari-etal and the parieto-occipital regions in the case of theta and alpha frequency bands and a non-significantly lower FC in the central region's beta frequency band. Our results contribute to the field in two ways. First, they identify the applicability of DE as a unifying measure to reproduce the similar observations that are separately reported through adaptation of different hypnotic biomarkers in the literature. Second, they extend these previous findings that were based on neutral hypnosis (i.e., a hypnotic procedure that involves no specific suggestions other than those for becoming hypnotized) to the case of hypnotic suggestions, thereby identifying their presence as a potential signature of hypnotic experience.
According to recent findings ADHD symptoms and neural mechanisms are closely related to symptoms of extreme stress similar to PTSD and also to disintegrated conscious experience that has been found in dissociative disorders (Endo et al. 2006; Johnson et al. 2007; Sugar and Ford 2012; Martinez et al. 2016). These findings seem to be very important for understanding of some neural mechanism of ADHD and its therapy that in various ways may help to create integrated conscious experience usually reflected as appropriate self-confidence and self-esttem as opposites to helplessness. This particular role of psychotherapy developing integrated conscious experience and self-understanding may likely help psychologically but also physiologically because recent neuroscience findings indicate that consciousness may integrate brain functions (Baars 2002; Kanwisher 2001; Varela et al. 2001) and might be a gateway to brain integration that enables access between otherwise separated neuronal functions (Baars 2002). On the other hand conflicting streams of information specifically influence integrative functions of consciousness and during transient periods related to actual experience of aversive events lead to a greater allocation of attention which leads to discontinuous attentional shifts (Guralnik et al. 2000; Vermetten and Bremner 2004; Bob 2008) in clinical forms of dissociation or during hypnosis (Faymonville et al. 2006; Cojan et al. 2009).
Imaging of the living human brain elucidates the neural dynamics of hypnosis; however, few reliable brain patterns emerge across studies. Here, we methodically assess neuroimaging assays of hypnosis to uncover common neural configurations using a twofold approach. First, we systematically review research on the neural correlates of hypnotic phenomena; then, we meta-analyze these collective data seeking specific activation and deactivation patterns that typify hypnosis. Anchored around the role of top-down control processes, our comprehensive examination focuses on the involvement of intrinsic brain networks known to operationalize cognitive control and self-referential cognition, including the executive, salience, and default networks. We discuss how these neural dynamics may relate to contemporary theories of hypnosis and show that hypnosis correlates with activation of the lingual gyrus—a brain region involved in higher-order visual processing and mental imagery. Our findings help to better understand the neurobiological substrates comprising the appellation hypnosis.
There is both theoretical and empirical evidence supporting a role for frontal executive functions (FEFs) in hypnosis and hypnotic suggestibility. However, the precise nature of this involvement is debated. While there is clear evidence that FEFs are impaired under hypnosis, the cause of this decreased function is unclear. Theories make differing predictions as to the role of FEFs in hypnotic suggestibility, with some arguing that decreased baseline (normal function outside of the hypnotic context) FEFs lead to greater hypnotic suggestibility and others arguing that increased baseline FEFs lead to greater hypnotic suggestibility. Other theories posit that suggestibility is more a consequence of attitude rather than aptitude. The present work provides a critical review of the involvement of FEFs in hypnosis and hypnotic suggestibility. The review considers behavioral evidence from studies employing putative frontal lobe tasks including tests of fluid intelligence and both task- and nontask-based neuroimaging evidence. It is determined that the evidence to date is inconclusive and that more work is needed to establish a necessary and sufficient role for FEFs in hypnosis or hypnotic suggestibility. Recommendations are made for future research.
Il presente volume rappresenta una tappa fondamentale nella ricerca della terapia del dolore e della sofferenza in campo fisico, mentale e spirituale. Abbraccia infatti a 360 gradi il fenomeno dolore e sofferenza in tutte le loro possibilità di estrinsecazione, divenendo così uno studio raffinato, anche se mai definitivo, nel trattamento non solo del dolore fisico, ma ancor più del dolore ad alti livelli, quando cioè è presente anche sofferenza morale e spirituale. Questo volume, che tratta in dettaglio tecniche di rilassamento e di ipnosi clinica nell'adulto e nel bambino, di conseguenza è veramente importante per il malato in terapia del dolore o terminale, ma è anche altrettanto importante per chi se ne prende cura e per chi intende compiere con l’occasione un percorso evolutivo nel rapporto palliativista.
A New Classification of the Modified States of Consciousness. A basic understanding of the different states and stages of the consciousness and its psychological and neural correlates, is of major importance for all scientists, clinicians, psychologists and philosophers. Today clinical hypnosis and traditional oriental philosophy attract the growing interest of occidental scientists. Consciousness poses the most enigmatic problems in the science of the mind. This work presents a new classification of the neurophysiological states of consciousness. It is not only a review of the neurosciences and neuropsychological foundations of consciousness, sleep phenomena, awareness, hypnosis stages and meditative stages; it provides a new model of the current scientific studies and definitions. This new theory is based on a new perspective to consider the modified states of consciousness as different states of attention and concentration. The purpose of the present new classification, is to focus on the relationship between concentration, hypnosis, meditative stages and awareness.
According to recent findings, interhemispheric interactions and information connectivity represent crucial mechanisms used in processing information across various sensory modalities. To study these interactions, the authors measured bilateral electrodermal activity (EDA) in 33 psychiatric outpatients. The results show that, during congruent Stroop stimuli in hypnosis, the patients with higher hypnotizability manifest a decreased level of interhemispheric information transfer measured by pointwise transinformation (PTI) that was calculated from left and right EDA records. These results show that specific shifts of attentional focus during hypnosis are related to changes of interhemispheric interactions that may be reflected in neural connectivity calculated from the bilateral EDA measurement. This attentional shift may cause dissociated attentional control disturbing integrative functions of consciousness and contextual experiences.
Examined the interrelationships between the following measures: hypnotic susceptibility (Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Forms A and C), imagery vividness (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire; VVIQ), involvement in everyday imaginative activities (Tellegen Absorption Scale; TAS), and daydreaming styles (28 scales of the Imaginal Processes Inventory). Ss were 56 university students and staff members. Factor analysis produced a factor characterized as a positively vivid and absorptive imagination style. Hypnotic susceptibility, VVIQ, TAS, and positive-affect daydreaming styles all loaded on this factor. Two other factors were a dysphoric daydreaming style and a lack-of-attentional-control style. Stepwise multiple regressions suggested that males and females exhibit different relationships between hypnotic susceptibility and predictor variables. Similar differences were found for the VVIQ and the TAS and their daydreaming-scale predictor variables. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Studied the relationship of gestalt closure tasks to hypnotizability (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility and Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale) as a test of the hypothesis that the more highly hypnotizable do better on a task of holistic visuospatial functioning than those less responsive to hypnosis. Several other cognitive tasks were included. Four studies were conducted with 125 male and 106 female high school and college students. In Study I, high hypnotizables scored significantly higher than low hypnotizables on the gestalt closure tasks, but there were no significant correlations between hypnotizability and the other cognitive tasks. In Studies II and III, females showed significant correlations between hypnotic susceptibility and gestalt closure scores. In Study IV, a significant correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and gestalt closure was found for males. Results are consistent with studies of different types of cognitive functioning (hemispheric preference, creativity, attentional distribution, imaginative involvement, and absorption), all indicating differences in cognitive abilities associated with high hypnotizability. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Tested the 2-process theory of detection, search, and attention presented by the current authors (1977) in a series of experiments. The studies (a) demonstrate the qualitative difference between 2 modes of information processing: automatic detection and controlled search; (b) trace the course of the learning of automatic detection, of categories, and of automatic-attention responses; and (c) show the dependence of automatic detection on attending responses and demonstrate how such responses interrupt controlled processing and interfere with the focusing of attention. The learning of categories is shown to improve controlled search performance. A general framework for human information processing is proposed. The framework emphasizes the roles of automatic and controlled processing. The theory is compared to and contrasted with extant models of search and attention. (31/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
59 college students volunteered for a study of brain waves subsequent to taking the Harvard Group Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (HGS). The EEG autospectrum and cross spectrum were computed and further analyzed by stepwise regression techniques to determine EEG spectral parameters most related to hypnotic susceptibility. Results show significant EEG prediction of HGS scores. The most predictive EEG parameters were from occipital autospectrum and occiptal-vertex cross spectrum during conditions of visual fixation. The most predictive EEG frequencies were from the slow frequency range (5-8 Hz.). Results are discussed in terms of possible attentional mechanisms common to both EEG and hypnotic susceptibility. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article reviews theoretical and empirical work on absorption and the relationship of absorption with selected variables.
Absorption is defined as a characteristic that involves an openness to experience emotional and cognitive alterations across a variety of situations. The nature and assessment of absorption and the relationship of absorption with (a) hypnosis and hypnotizability, (b) imagery, daydreaming, and consciousness, and (c) attentional processing and psychophysiological responding are considered. Conceptual and methodological issues are examined, and directions for future research are specified. Absorption is argued to be central to an understanding of the nature of subjective experience as well as to aspects of cognition and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Assessed the frequency of reported reversals for rotary illusions and for figure-ground illusions (the Necker cube and the Schroeder staircase) as a function of hypnotic susceptibility level (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility). 60 undergraduates were used, 40 in Exp I and 20 in Exp II. High-hypnotic-susceptibility Ss reported a greater frequency of reversals with both types of illusions than those Ss low in susceptibility. Implications for both hypnosis and illusion research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Words referring to feelings and states of mind were first used to describe behavior or the situations in which behavior occurred. When concurrent bodily states began to be noticed and talked about, the same words were used to describe them. They became the vocabulary of philosophy and then of mentalistic or cognitive psychology. The evidence is to be found in etymology. In this article, examples are given of words that have come to describe the feelings or states of mind that accompany doing, sensing, wanting, waiting, thinking, and several other attributes of mind. The bodily states felt or introspectively observed and described in these ways are the subject of physiology, especially brain science. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article presents a review of work that my colleagues and I have been doing during the past 15 years developing a rationale for the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and treatment of ADHD employing EEG biofeedback techniques. The article first briefly reviews the history of research and theory for understanding ADHD and then deals with the development of EEG and event-related potential (ERP) assessment paradigms and treatment protocols for this disorder, including our work and that of others who have replicated our results. Illustrative material from our current research and child case studies is included. Suggestions for future experimental and clinical work in this area are presented and theoretical issues involving the understanding of the neurophysiological and neurological basis of ADHD are discussed.
A review of neuropsychological and psychophysiological data on attention suggests that there are 3 separate, but interacting, neural systems: One controls arousal, which is defined in terms of phasic physiological responses to input. The arousal control circuits center on the amygdala. A 2nd system controls activation, which is defined in terms of tonic physiological readiness to respond. The readiness circuits center on the basal ganglia of the forebrain. A 3rd system is discerned which coordinates arousal and activation. This coordinating activity is defined as demanding effort. Its circuitry centers on the hippocampus. When arousal, activation, and effort are involved in problem solving, at least 2 further distinctions can be made. During categorizing, arousal precedes activation; during reasoning, activation precedes arousal. The question of whether effort in problem solving is to be attributed solely to peripheral muscular factors or whether direct monitoring of changes in brain organization can be productive of measurable indicators of effort is examined. (6 p ref)
A difficulty with the connectionist idea of representation in neural networks of the mammalian brain is that a single neuron cannot make a sufficient number of connections to influence the functional organization within networks of realistic size. Although cell assemblies can form to represent individual stimuli and responses, the formation of assemblies capable of recognizing an environment as a whole is unlikely. Yet such recognition is necessary for many context-dependent types of behavior. In the present paper, a hypothesis of cortico-hippocampal interaction is suggested, which can resolve this difficulty. It involves the establishing of patterns of connectivity between the cortex and hippocampus, on the basis of temporal aspects of connectivity (i.e., axonal conduction delays) as well as spatial aspects. By means of both the available repertoire of axonal conduction delays and Hebbian processes for synaptic modification, loops of connectivity are selected which carry neural activity resonating at the frequency of the hippocampal theta rhythm. Patterns of such loops encode the environment as a whole. The relation between the hippocampal theta rhythm and both general behavior and learning processes is thus clarified.
The current volumes of The Hippocampus reflect the prodigious amount of work aimed at discovering the functions of this structure over the past decade. The hippocampus ideally lends itself to two types of study: (1) because of its regular and relatively simple cytoarchitecture, it can serve as a model for cortical processing in general, and (2) because of its size and central location, the role of the hippocampus in the total ecology of brain function poses an important challenge. We attempted to divide the contributions to Volumes 3 and 4 according to these two types of experimental aims. As always, however, when one makes dichotomies, one finds them inadequate in treating certain data and our attempt is no exception. There are contributions that do not fit the classification and there are others which fit both. In addition, there are manuscripts which we wanted to include but which the authors were not ready to submit at this time. Larry Squire, Mortimer Mishkin, and others are making important contributions which donot appear in these volumes except among references throughout. But this was also the case for Volumes 1 and 2 where we sorely miss the irreplaceable contributions of James Olds, Ross Adey, and Brenda Milner. Volume 4 is concerned primarily with the role of the hippocampus in the ecology of the brain in regulating behavior and experience. The contri butions have the potential to raise the level of our understanding considerably.
This chapter discusses evoked potential (EP) reflecting hypnotically altered state of consciousness. The development of effective methods in electrophysiology (EEG) and recording averaged evoked potentials in man gives a chance to find another measurable indicator of hypnotically altered states of consciousness. The latency changes of the late components of AEP and VEP are the ones that reflect most markedly the development of a more selective attention in hypnosis. The character of these EP modifications indicates that the most important aspect of the difference between the waking and the hypnotic states might be that, while in the waking state, information processing is not modified significantly by fine changes in the set of attention; in hypnosis, it becomes significantly different as a function of these changes. In hypnosis, the subjects may become so sensitive to the demands of the hypnotist that they respond even to his or her unexpressed requirements.
We all very well know the literature that shows that the left and right hemispheres are differentially involved in cognitive processing. The left hemisphere is often found to be more involved in analytical and sequential thought processes, and the right hemisphere is more involved in imaginal and holistic thought processes. Recent studies of behavioral task performance and EEG and electrodermal responses during hypnosis suggest that there is an enhancement of right hemisphere involvement. For example, the following have been demonstrated enhancements during hypnosis for hypnotically responsive individuals in imaginal and holistic thinking (e.g., Crawford & Allen, 1983; Gruzelier, 1987), EEG ratio shifts showing a greater right hemisphere involvement in relation to the left (e.g., Bányai, Mészáros, & Csokay, 1985; Chen, Dworkin, Bloomquist, 1981; MacLeod-Morgan, 1979, 1982; Mészáros, Crawford, Nagy-Kovács, & Szabó, 1987), shifts in evoked potential amplitude toward the right hemisphere (e.g., Mészáros, Bányai, & Greguss, 1982, 1985; Spiegel, Cutcomb, Ren, & Pribram, 1985), and decreases in left hemisphere involvement in studies of electrodermal responses (e.g., Gruzelier, 1987; Gruzelier, Brow, Perry, Rhonder, & Thomas, 1984). Some studies (e.g., Sabourin, Cutcomb, & Pribram, 1986) have reported no such EEG hemispheric shifts during hypnosis among high hypnotizables.
The newly expanding field of cognitive psychophysiology will find the field of hypnosis research to be a rich gold mine for the investigation of interactions between cognitive and physiological functioning in alternate states of awareness, as moderated by individual differences in an important and enduring trait, namely hypnotic responsiveness. Up until recently, most hypnosis researchers examined separately the personality and cognitive correlates of hypnotic responsiveness, changes in cognitive processing during hypnosis, and possible physiological correlates of hypnosis. This paper will present a series of studies in which we have investigated, separately and together, possible individual differences in both cognitive and physiological flexibility. Based upon prior research, it is our belief that individuals who are highly responsive to hypnosis show greater cognitive flexibility and possibly greater physiological flexibility.
Relations between sustained attentional and disattentional abilities and hypnotic susceptibility (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility: Form A; Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C) were examined in 38 low(0-3)and 39 highly(10-12) hypnotizable college students. Highs showed greater sustained attention on Necker cube and autokinetic movement tasks and self-reported greater absorption (Tellegen Absorption Scale) and extremely focused attentional (Differential Attentional Processes Inventory) styles. Hypnotizability was unrelated to dichotic selective attention (A. Karlin, 1979) and random number generation (C. Graham & F. J. Evans, 1977) tasks. Discriminant analysis correctly classified 74% of the lows and 69% of the highs. Results support H. J. Crawford and J. H. Gruzelier's (1992) neuropsychophysiological model of hypnosis that proposes that highly hypnotizable persons have a more efficient far frontolimbic sustained attentional and disattentional system.
Two studies of posthypnotic amnesia tested predictions derived from the ‘source’ monitoring theory of self-consciousness. Experiment 1 tested the prediction that posthypnotic source amnesia is irreversible, because hypnosis attenuates self-consciousness of whether one's sensations have an imaginal source or a perceptual source. In this initial study, recall amnesia was reversed by posthypnotic cuing with a prearranged signal, but source amnesia was not reversed by such cuing. Experiment 2 examined whether the cued reversal of recall amnesia is attributable, in part, to the hypnotic attenuation of self-conscious ‘source monitoring’ and, in part, to the reversal of recall criteria: from a criterion rejecting ‘seemingly imaginary’ or ‘sourceless’ memories, to a criterion accepting ‘sourceless but familiar’ memories. In this latter study, posthypnotic recall amnesia was breached when subjects were instructed to trust their seemingly imaginary memories, but not when they were instructed to try harder to remember.
Contemporary research in cognitive psychology reveals the impact of nonconscious mental structures and processes on the individual's conscious experience, thought, and action. Research on perceptual-cognitive and motoric skills indicates that they are automatized through experience, and thus rendered unconscious. In addition, research on subliminal perception, implicit memory, and hypnosis indicates that events can affect mental functions even though they cannot be consciously perceived or remembered. These findings suggest a tripartite division of the cognitive unconscious into truly unconscious mental processes operating on knowledge structures that may themselves be preconscious or subconscious.
• Autonomic and electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of Tantric Yoga meditation were studied in three groups of subjects as they progressed from normal consciousness into meditation. Groups differed in their level of meditation proficiency. Measures of skin resistance, heart rate, respiration, autonomic orienting response, resting EEG, EEG alpha and theta frequencies, sleep-scored EEG, averaged evoked responses, and subjective experience were employed.
Unlike most previously reported meditation studies, proficient meditators demonstrated increased autonomic activation during meditation while unexperienced meditators demonstrated autonomic relaxation. During meditation, proficient meditators demonstrated increased alpha and theta power, minimal evidence of EEG-defined sleep, and decreased autonomic orienting to external stimulation. An episode of sudden autonomic activation was observed that was characterized by the meditator as an approach to the Yogic ecstatic state of intense concentration. These findings challenge the current "relaxation" model of meditative states.
In a heterogeneous sample of 80 schizophrenics, both noninstitutionalized and institutionalized, skin conductance orienting responses to repeated 85-db tones either failed or were slow to habituate to criterion, or failed to occur. Schizophrenics with orienting responses had higher skin conductance levels and a higher incidence of spontaneous fluctuations of skin conductance. Schizophrenics had higher response amplitudes, faster latencies, and faster recovery times than a control group of 20 nonpsychotic patient or normal controls. The results are discussed as possible evidence of limbic forebrain pathology in schizophrenia.
1 Statement of the Problem.- 1 Historical Introduction.- 2 Designs for a Prototype Cerebral Cortex.- 2 Reviews Of The Experimental Evidence Relevant To The Formulation Of The Theory Of Cortico-Hippocampal Interaction.- 3 Anatomy of the Hippocampal Complex and Related Regions.- 4 Discovery and General Behavioural Correlates of the Hippocampal Theta Rhythm.- 5 The Septum as a Pacemaker for the Hippocampal Theta Rhythm.- 6 Subdivision of Theta Types According to Sources of Extra-Hippocampal Control.- 7 Evidence for Multiple Sources of Theta Generation in the Hippocampus and Related Structures.- 8 Towards a Neuronal Model to Account for the Laminar Waveforms of Theta Activity.- 3 The Theory of Resonant, Self-Organizing Phase-Locked Loops.- 9 Cortico-Hippocampal Interaction: Theory, Implications and Predictions.- 10 Theta Activity and Learning.- 11 Synopsis and Epilogue.- References.
Body-oriented therapies as relaxation training and certain forms of meditation are gaining popularity in the treatment and prevention of psychosomatic disorders. In this paper, a new method of self-control called self-regulation method (SRM), derived from autogenic training and Zen meditation, is presented. The technique of SRM is introduced. Secondly, physiological studies on SRM using skin temperature, galvanic skin response, and cortical evoked potentials are presented. Thirdly, the results of psychological tests conducted on SRM are presented. These psycho-physiological studies suggest that SRM may elicit a state of ‘relaxed alertness’. Fourthly, clinical applications of SRM are discussed, and 3 cases are presented. Finally, SRM is discussed in relation to the psychology and physiology of ‘relaxed alertness’.
Contends that a difficulty with the connectionist idea of representation in neural networks of the mammalian brain is that a single neuron cannot make a sufficient number of connections to influence the functional organization within networks of realistic size. A hypothesis of cortico-hippocampal interaction is suggested, which involves the establishing of patterns of connectivity between the cortex and hippocampus, on the basis of temporal aspects of connectivity (i.e., axonal conduction delays) as well as spatial aspects. By means of both the available repertoire of axonal conduction delays and Hebbian processes for synaptic modification, loops of connectivity are selected which carry neural activity resonating at the frequency of the hippocampal theta rhythm. The relation between the hippocampal theta rhythm and both general behavior and learning processes is thus clarified. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To assess whether degree of selectivity, ability to resist distraction, and capacity for voluntary shifting are separate, identifiable attention processes, 164 8th graders were given 3 adaptations of the Gottschaldt Embedded-figures Test. Distraction was represented by 3 tasks devised by S. A. Karp, called Cancellation, Arithmetic Operations, and the Distracting Contexts Test 2B. Shifting was defined by an anagrams task and a task requiring the drawing of alternately placed triangles. A group version of the Stroop Color-Word Test was predicted to load both selectivity and shifting. Data were subjected to a principal components analysis, followed by an oblique rotation which permitted comparison of the degree to which the obtained factor matrix approximated a hypothesized pattern matrix. Tests were loaded as predicted. Results support the hypothesis of 3 separate attention factors underlying the performance of tests used. (54 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Studied the effects of hypnosis on regional cortical blood flow with the 133-Xenon inhalation method in 12 healthy men. During a successful hypnosis-induced levitation of the right arm, a global increase of cortical blood flow was found together with a regional activation of the temporal centers for acoustic attention. Moreover, under hypnotically narrowed consciousness focus, an unexplained deactivation of inferior temporal areas occurred. While there was a global absolute increase of the hemipheric blood flow on both sides under hypnosis, no greater increase on one side compared to the other was found. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews studies of cognitive processing during hypnosis. The research suggests that hypnotically responsive individuals not only experience subjective changes during hypnosis that are seen as often being discontinuous with their normal consciousness, but they also may exhibit measurable cognitive changes. Evidence (such as ego functioning changes and enhanced creativity and imagery processing) is presented to support the hypothesis that hypnosis may involve a shift in cognitive functioning away from a verbal, detail-oriented strategy toward a more imaginal, nonanalytic, holistic-oriented strategy. People who are highly hypnotizable may have greater flexibility in cognitive processing. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Using 133Xe regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) imaging, two male groups having high and low hypnotic susceptibility were compared in waking and after hypnotic induction, while at rest and while experiencing ischemic pain to both arms under two conditions: attend to pain and suggested analgesia. Differences between low and. highly-hypnotizable persons were observed during all hypnosis conditions: only highly-hypnotizable persons showed a significant increase in overall CBF, suggesting that hypnosis requires cognitive effort. As anticipated, ischemic pain produced CBF increases in the somatosensory region. Of major theoretical interest is a highly-significant bilateral CBF activation of the orbito-frontal cortex in the highly-hypnotizable group only during hypnotic analgesia. During hypnotic analgesia, highly-hypnotizable persons showed CBF increase over the somatosensory cortex, while low-hypnotizable persons showed decreases. Research is supportive of a neuropsychophysiological model of hypnosis (Crawford, 1991; Crawford and Gruzelier, 1992) and suggests that hypnotic analgesia involves the supervisory, attentional control system of the far-frontal cortex in a topographically specific inhibitory feedback circuit that cooperates in the regulation of thalamocortical activities.
Emotional Stress has been reported to cause vasospastic attacks in some patients with idiopathic Raynaud's disease. In the present study, the physiological and subjective responses of 32 Raynaud's disease patients and 22 normal subjects to three imagined scenes were compared. Both groups responded similarly to a neutral and a generally stressful scene. However, a scene having content thematically relevant to Raynaud's disease produced decreased finger temperature in these patients but not in normal controls. These findings are discussed in terms of stimulus specificity and social learning theories.
The performances of groups of patients with left, right and bilateral frontal lesions were compared on a battery consisting of two tests presumed to be related specifically to left hemisphere function, two tests presumed to be related specifically to right hemisphere function, and two tests presumed to be related specifically to bilateral frontal lobe function. Eighteen predictions, based on both theoretical considerations and the indications of previous literature, were made concerning the differences in performance to be expected among the three groups.
In an epileptic patient with depth electrodes placed in the hippocampal formation we observed the following: 1.(1) There existed a significant peak in the theta band of the hippocampal EEG of this subject under a number of behavioural circumstances.2.(2) Four different behaviours were performed at two degrees of intensity. Whenever the values of a certain spectral parameter associated with a low or a high intensity behaviour showed a significant difference, the higher value corresponded with the more intense version of the behaviour.3.(3) The frequency and rhythmicity of the hippocampal theta component during writing was consistently higher than during sitting or walking. The amplitude was smaller.4.(4) In a word association task the amplitude, frequency and rhythmicity showed a significant rise during the period of silence immediately following the question and preceding the answer.RésuméChez une pateinte épileptique porteuse d'électrodes profondes à demeure dans la formation hippocampique nous avons observé les faits suivants: 1.(1) Il existait un pic significatif de l'EEG hippocampique dans la bande thêta dans un certain nombre de situations comportementales.2.(2) On a fait exécuter 4 comportements différents avec 2 degrés d'intensité. Chaque fois qu'il y avait une différence significative entre les valeurs d'un paramètre spectral donné, selon que le comportement était d'intensité faible ou élevée, la valeur la plus haute correspondait au degré le plus élvé d'intensité du comportement.3.(3) La fréquence et la rythmicité de la composante thêta hippocampique étaient régulièrement plus élevées lorsque la malade écrivait que lorsqu'elle était assise ou marchait; cependant l'amplitude était plus basse.4.(4) Dans une tâche d'association verbale, l'amplitude, la fréquence et la rythmicité augmentaient de façon significative durant la période de silence qui suivait immédiatement la question et précédait la réponse.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bowling Green State University, 1983. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-65).
In a survey of the EEG characteristics of persons practising the Transcendental Meditation technique, 21 of 78 people demonstrated intermittent prominent bursts of frontally dominant theta activity. On the average across subjects, the theta bursts occurred about every 2 min, had an average duration of 1.8 sec, and an average maximal amplitude of 135 muV. Typically, the bursts were preceded and followed by alpha rhythm. Subject reports elicited during theta bursts indicated pleasant states with intact situational orientation and no subjective experiences related to sleep. Fifty-four non-meditating controls showed no theta bursts during relaxation and sleep onset. It is hypothesized that theta burst may be the manifestation of a state adjustment mechanism which comes into play during prolonged low-arousal states, and which may be related to EEG patterns of relaxation in certain behavioural conditions.
In this paper, studies which have explored the relation between EEG theta waves and psychological phenomena in normal human subjects are reviewed. It is noted that increases in theta activity occur in conjunction with several kinds of psychological processes. The importance of ocnsidering properties of theta activity, such as amplitude, rhythmicity and scalp topography when analyzing the relation between theta and psychological processes is emphasized. Although there is some evidence for a relationship between theta and psychological processes, it is concluded that the degree to which properties of theta activity are systematically related to specific psychological processes is not yet known.
A group of 11 meditators using Ananda Marga Yoga techniques were matched individually with non-meditating controls. Controls were instructed to remain “wakefully relaxed” for 40 min, while the others meditated for the same amount of time. Six of the 11 controls fell asleep during the 40 min (defined by K-complexes and spindles in the EEG), while none of the meditators fell asleep. Rather, meditators remained in a relatively stable state of alpha and theta EEG activity. Meditation was also characterized by a marked increase in basal skin resistance and by a decrease in respiratory rate, changes which were not observed in the controls. Some physiological changes observed during meditation continued into the post-meditation resting periods. These findings suggest that Ananda Marga meditation produces a physiological effect different from that observed in controls who try to relax with their eyes closed.
Autonomic and electroencephalographic (EEG) correlates of Tantric Yoga meditation were studied in three groups of subjects as they progressed from normal consciousness into meditation. Groups differed in their level of meditation proficiency. Measures of skin resistance, heart rate, respiration, autonomic orienting responses, resting EEG, EEG alpha and theta frequencies, sleep-scored EEG, averaged evoked responses, and subjective experience were employed. Unlike most previously reported meditation studies, proficient meditators demonstrated increased autonomic activation during meditation while unexperienced meditators demonstrated autonomic relaxation. During meditation, proficient meditators demonstrated increased alpha and theta power, minimal evidence of EEG-defined sleep, and decreased autonomic orienting to external stimulation. An episode of sudden autonomic activation was observed that was characterized by the meditator as an approach to the Yogic ecstatic state of intense concentration. These findings challenge the current "relaxation" model of meditative states.
Electrical potentials evoked by 5 intensities of painful dental stimulation were recorded at the scalp. During testing, volunteers indicated subjective painfulness by verbal pain ratings and visual analogue scales. Evoked potentials (EPs) to each intensity, observed between 50 and 400 msec, were characterized by 4 waveform components. The peak-to-peak amplitudes, but not the peak latencies, of all 4 EP components systematically increased with increased stimulation. The amplitudes of the two earlier components correlated with stimulus intensity when the effect of subjective painfulness was controlled, but this was not the case for the later components. In contrast, the amplitudes of the two later components were associated with subjective painfulness but not with stimulus intensity. A strong linear relationship was observed between subjective painfulness and peak-to-peak amplitude for the EP component observed between 175 and 260 msec. The data suggest that the earlier EP components may reflect sensory transmission processes while the later components indicate brain activity when pain is perceived.
2 scales of involvement in absorbing experiences, developed independently by Tellegen (1976) and Swanson (1978), were compared with each other and with a group version of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (Weitzenhoffer & Hilgard, 1962). Significantly positive correlations were obtained for all three comparisons. The results further confirm the relationship between hypnotic susceptibility and absorption, providing new evidence for the existence of stable individual differences in hypnotizability.
A ample of 106 Ss wm examined in terms of hypnotizability and mceptibility to the Pornzo illusion. Significant differences were found among low-, medium-, and high-hypnotizability male Ss in P o w aueoeptibility when intergroup comparisons were made, although the nature of mch differences did not appear when correlational procedures were d. These reeults and the presence of non-hear trends in the data are discussed with reference to the possible inappropriateness of using corrdationsl procedures when evaluating personality concomitanta of hypnoti5abilityJ and with reference to the possible importance of sex differencea in such studies.
A quantitative investigation of the EEG during hypnosis was made by analyzing the analogue power frequency spectrum of one group of subjects in the awake and hypnotized conditions, and another group (random sample) in the awake condition. Individuals of the first group were thoroughly experienced in self-hypnosis and highly hypnotizable, whereas those of the second group had never been hypnotized and were low in waking suggestibility. There were no statistically significant differences in mean power of the whole EEG spectrum between the awake and hypnotized conditions of the experimental group, although a trend toward increased theta (4 to 8 Hz) density during hypnosis was apparent. This group, however, exhibited significantly more theta activity during both the hypnotized and the awake conditions than the random sample of controls in the awake condition, irrespective of whether the eyes were closed or open. We suggest that this increased theta density in the EEG is related to frequent experience of self-hypnosis, high hypnotizability, or both.
FFT dipole approximation and 3-dimensional dipole modelling were used to determine the locations of the equivalent dipole model sources of the delta, theta, alpha, beta-1 and beta-2 frequency bands in 13 normal subjects during resting. From each subject, 2 successive data sets were analysed, each consisting of 10 epochs of 2 sec randomly collected during 30 min. ANOVAs showed that over subjects, the source locations of EEG frequency bands differed significantly in the vertical and antero-posterior dimensions. Results of data set 2 confirmed those of data set 1. The source of delta was deepest and most anterior, theta more posterior and less deep, alpha most posterior and highest on the vertical dimension, beta-1 deeper and slightly more anterior than alpha, and beta-2 again more anterior and deeper than beta-1. Thus, the depth of source location was not linearly related to temporal frequency. The sources of all 5 bands were oriented in the sagittal direction; delta mean fields had steeper gradients anteriorly, alpha and beta-1 posteriorly. The power map for any frequency was well described by a single phase angle. The results indicate that the different EEG frequency bands during a given EEG epoch are generated by neural populations in different brain locations.
EEGs of extensively screened dyslexics and normal readers were recorded while they read easy and difficult texts silently and orally, and during two other verbal tasks which also differed in overt speaking but had no reading component: narrative speaking and listening to a story. Mid-temporal, central and parietal leads were referenced to linked ears and to Cz. Large differences between tasks and between groups were found. With the linked ears reference, power was higher in all bands in oral reading than in silent reading, with the largest change occurring in the temporal leads. In the theta and low beta bands the difference between oral and silent reading was greater for controls than for dyslexics. These effects were not accounted for by differences in reading speed or in difficulty. Similar results were found in two cohorts of subjects. The difference between groups in theta was found only in the reading tasks. In contrast, the group difference in low beta was also found in the change from listening to speaking. This implies that the oral-silent group difference in theta is related to some aspect of the reading tasks other than the presence or absence of overt speaking, and that the low beta group difference is related to some aspect of overt speaking rather than to reading per se. With the Cz reference no group differences were found. It is suggested that the groups differ in the reading strategies they use, and the degree to which they shift strategy between the silent and oral tasks. We hypothesize that these cognitive differences are reflected in the theta activity from the temporal lobe. While there were many differences between the tasks in alpha power and asymmetry, no group differences involving alpha were found.
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