Psychophysiology of Dissociated Consciousness

Abstract

Recent study of consciousness provides an evidence that there is a limit of consciousness, which presents a barrier between conscious and unconscious processes. This barrier likely is specifically manifested as a disturbance of neural mechanisms of consciousness that through distributed brain processing, attentional mechanisms and memory processes enable to constitute integrative conscious experience. According to recent findings a level of conscious integration may change during certain conditions related to experimental cognitive manipulations, hypnosis, or stressful experiences that can lead to dissociation of consciousness. In psychopathological research the term dissociation was proposed by Pierre Janet for explanation of processes related to splitting of consciousness due to traumatic events or during hypnosis. According to several recent findings dissociation of consciousness likely is related to deficits in global distribution of information and may lead to heightened levels of "neural complexity" that reflects brain integration or differentiation based on numbers of independent neural processes in the brain that may be specifically related to various mental disorders.

Exploring the Role of Conscious and Unconscious Processes in Hypnosis: A Theoretical Review

“…Both Hilgard's and Gazzaniga's theories explore the multifaceted nature of consciousness, each highlighting different aspects of how our minds perceive, processes, and narrate our experiences and states of consciousness [15,18]. Bob (2014) similarly references the role of the unconscious in modulating or "gating" the contents of the conscious experience during dissociative states like hypnosis [19]. Although neither Hilgard nor Gazzaniga posit a theory of hypnosis that comprehensively models the mechanisms of the hypnotic experience, they agree on the modularity of the mind.…”