Hypnosis, hypnotizability, and imagery-mediated learning

Absorption and spiritual experience: A review of evidence and potential mechanisms

Some people seem to have a 'talent' for spiritual experience: they readily sense the presence of supernatural beings, receive special messages from God, and report intense feelings of self-transcendence, awe and wonder. Here we review converging strands of evidence to argue that the trait of 'absorption' captures a general proclivity for having spiritual experiences. Participants scoring highly on the Tellegen Absorption Scale report vivid experiences of hearing God's voice during prayer, intense mystical experiences in response to psychedelics or placebo brain-stimulation, and strong feelings of presence and transcendence when confronted with natural beauty, virtual reality, or music. Several mechanisms may help to explain the relationship between absorption and spiritual experience. We suggest that absorption captures an experiential mindset that intensifies inner and outer sensory experience in ways that reflect both prior expectation and novel sensory engagement. It seems to enable that which must be imagined to feel more real.

Learning in trance: functional brain imaging studies and neuropsychology

This study examined the fundamental question, whether verbal memory processing in hypnosis and in the waking state is mediated by a common neural system or by distinct cortical areas. Seven right-handed volunteers (25.4 years, sd 3.1) with high-hypnotic susceptibility scores were PET-scanned while encoding/retrieving word associations either in hypnosis or in the waking state. Word-pairs were visually presented and highly imaginable, but not semantically related (e.g. monkey-street). The presentation of pseudo-words served as a reference condition. An emission scan was recorded after each intravenous administration of O-15 water. Encoding under hypnosis was associated with more pronounced bilateral activations in the occipital cortex and the prefrontal areas as compared to learning in the waking state. During memory retrieval of word-pairs which had been previously learned under hypnosis, activations were found in the occipital lobe and the cerebellum. Under both experimental conditions precuneus and prefrontal cortex showed a consistent bilateral activation which was most distinct when the learning had taken place under hypnosis. In order to further analyze the effect of hypnosis on imagery-mediated learning, we administered sets of high-imagery word-pairs and sets of abstract words. In the first experimental condition word-pair associations were presented visually. In the second condition it was found that highly hypnotisable persons recalled significantly more high-imagery words under hypnosis as compared to low-hypnotisables both in the visual and auditory modality. Furthermore, high-imagery words were also better recalled by the highly hypnotisable subjects during the non-hypnotic condition. The memory effect was consistently present under both, immediate and delayed recall conditions. Taken together, the findings advance our understanding of the neural representation that underlies hypnosis and the neuropsychological correlates of hypnotic susceptibility.

Primary process, hypnotic dreams, and the hidden observer: hypnosis versus alert imagining

Previous research indicated that high-hypnotizable participants reported more primary-process mentation in hypnotic dreams than low-hypnotizable participants instructed to simulate hypnosis. Differences in primary process were not evidenced in response to instructions for a "hidden part" of the participant to report on the hypnotic dream. This research replicated and extended these findings by showing that high-hypnotizable participants (n = 20) passing the dream suggestion reported more primary process in their dreams than high-hypnotizable participants instructed to remain alert and think and imagine along with suggestions (n = 20). Differences in primary process were not evidenced in response to hidden-observer suggestions, and the frequency of dream (87% hypnosis vs. 96% imagining) and hidden-observer responses (100% in both groups) was equivalent across hypnotic and nonhypnotic groups. The results provided qualified support for a psychoanalytic model of hypnosis: Differences in primary process were apparent in response to the dream but not the hidden-observer suggestion.

Visual perception of area and hypnotic susceptibility

The visual perception of area of geometrical figures was compared for subjects of high and low hypnotizability in experiments with direct comparison of two different geometrical figures. The Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale (Form C) was used to assess subjects' hypnotizability. No differences between 17 highly hypnotizable and 10 low hypnotizable subjects were found. Present results were also compared with those previously obtained for subjects of unknown hypnotizability. The model based on the Image Function Theory proposed earlier to explain the errors in area estimation committed by subjects of unknown hypnotizability was confirmed as a general rule.

Truth in memory: ramifications for psychotherapy and hypnotherapy

In this article we address a number of issues relevant to the practice of psychotherapy and hypnotherapy: How reliable is memory? How are therapists' and clients' beliefs and expectancies related to pseudomemory formation? Are certain clients particularly vulnerable to pseudomemory creation? Does hypnosis pose special hazards for pseudomemory reports? What are the variables or factors that mediate hypnotic pseudomemories? In addition to reviewing the literature on these topics, we intend to sensitize the clinician to the potential pitfalls of critical reliance on the patient's memories, as well as uncritically accepted clinical beliefs and practices.

Coping with examination stress through hypnosis: an experimental study

Fifty-six volunteer medical students participated in three groups balanced for number of subjects, performance at last examination, and hypnotizability. The hypnosis and waking groups attended eight group sessions once a week with general ego-strengthening and specific suggestions for study habits, with a ninth session of age progression and mental rehearsal. Subjects in these two groups practiced self-suggestions (in self-hypnosis or waking respectively) daily for the study period of 9 weeks. The control group experienced sessions of passive relaxation induced by light reading for the same period of time. The hypnosis group improved significantly in coping with examination stress, but there was no significant change in performance on examinations by any of the groups.

Visual information processing speed in hypnotized and nonhypnotized subjects

Using a backward-masking paradigm with a bias-free and ceiling-free psychophysical task, we tested hypnotized and control subjects for speed of visual information processing. Approximately half of each group received visual imagery suggestions in an attempt to influence attention. Imagery produced no significant differential effect. Although an absence of a hypnotizability-performance relationship was in keeping with findings of a previous study, those subjects in the present study who performed under hypnosis were, as a group, significantly superior to the other subjects in speed of information processing.