On the False Alarm Metaphor in Psychophysics

Juhasz, Joseph B.; Sarbin, Theodore R.

doi:10.1007/bf03393675

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Expectancies arising from direct imaginative suggestion can drive unusual experiences (e.g., hallucinations and apparently involuntary action) in a substantial proportion of the population (within and outside the context of 'hypnosis'; Braffman & Kirsch, 1999). Imaginative suggestion can be implicit rather than direct (Orne, 1959) and expectancies within scientific experiments can drive experiential change (e.g., gustatory hallucinations, Juhasz & Sarbin, 1966;psychedelic experiences, Heaton 1975; see Kirsch & Council, 1989). RHI response is predicted both by participant expectancies and by a stable trait measure of response to direct imaginative suggestion in a hypnotic context (hypnotisability).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Demand Characteristics Confound the Rubber Hand Illusion

Lush

2020

Collabra: Psychology

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Reports of experiences of ownership over a fake hand following simple multisensory stimulation (the 'rubber hand illusion') have generated an expansive literature. Because such reports might reflect suggestion effects, demand characteristics are routinely controlled for by contrasting agreement ratings for 'illusion' and 'control' conditions. However, these methods have never been validated, and recent evidence that response to imaginative suggestion ('phenomenological control') predicts illusion report prompts reconsideration of their efficacy. A crucial assumption of the standard approach is that demand characteristics are matched across conditions. Here, a quasi-experiment design was employed to test demand characteristics in rubber hand illusion reports. Participants were provided with information about the rubber hand illusion procedure (text description and video demonstration) and recorded expectancies for standard 'illusion' and 'control' statements. Expectancies for 'control' and 'illusion' statements in synchronous and asynchronous conditions were found to differ similarly to published illusion reports. Therefore, rubber hand illusion control methods which have been in use for 22 years are not fit for purpose. Because demand characteristics have not been controlled in illusion report in existing studies, the illusion may be, partially or entirely, a suggestion effect. Methods to develop robust controls are proposed. That confounding demand characteristics have been overlooked for decades may be attributable to a lack of awareness that demand characteristics can drive experience in psychological science.

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confidence: 99%

Demand Characteristics Confound the Rubber Hand Illusion

Lush

2020

Collabra: Psychology

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“…There is existing evidence that demand characteristics can drive experience in scientific experiments. For example, psychedelic experiences following placebo hallucinogen administration (Heaton, 1975;Olson et al, 2020) and hallucinated taste of salt in a psychophysical task Juhasz & Sarbin, 1966). It has previously been proposed that such effects may be driven by the same mechanisms as response to imaginative suggestion (see Kirsch & Council, 1989;Michael, Garry, and Kirsch (2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Phenomenological control: response to imaginative suggestion predicts measures of mirror touch synaesthesia, vicarious pain and the rubber hand illusion

Lush¹,

Botan²,

Rb³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The control of top down processes to generate experience has been studied within the context of hypnosis since the birth of psychological science. In hypnotic responding, expectancies arising from imaginative suggestion drive striking experiential changes (e.g., hallucinations) – which are experienced as involuntary – according to a normally distributed and stable trait ability (hypnotisability). Such experiences can be triggered by implicit suggestion and occur outside the hypnotic context. The possibility that they account for experiential change in psychological studies has been overlooked. In large sample studies (of 156, 404 and 353 participants) we report substantial relationships between hypnotisability and experimental measures of experiential change (mirror-sensory synaesthesia and the rubber hand illusion) comparable to relationships between hypnotisability and individual hypnosis scale items. The control of phenomenology to meet expectancies arising from perceived task requirements can account for experiential change in psychological experiments.

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“…Clearly, Brain would not recommend commitment for these latter 43% who were utterly convinced of the genuineness of their gustatory "hallucinations." In fact, as we pointed out in our paper (29) such experimental results would not normally fall under the rubric of "hallucinations." In the ordinary psychological literature of today they would probably be called "false alarms."…”

Section: Vfimentioning

confidence: 82%

“…I n a recent experiment the authors (29) have demonstrated that a psychophysical-laboratory setting generates role demands of such strength as to produce a "salty" response to distilled water in 82% of a sample of college students. Furthermore, 43% of the sample indicated that they would testify at a murder trial that they had tasted salt.…”

Section: Vfimentioning

confidence: 99%