Surreptitious observation of responses to hypnotically suggested hallucinations: A test of the compliance hypothesis

Perugini, Eve Marie; Kirsch, Irving; Allen, Sarah Turrentine; Coldwell, Eleanor; Meredith, Janelle M.; Montgomery, Guy H.; Sheehan, Julie

doi:10.1080/00207149808409999

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Although we cannot objectively verify the phenomenological reality of the subjective color experience (see e.g. [25]), the general consensus in hypnosis research is that hypnotic suggestions change subjective experiences and not merely the reports of subjective experiences [26], [27]. The effects of the suggestions must rely on brain structures and functional connections that are available in normal brain [4].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

A Preconscious Neural Mechanism of Hypnotically Altered Colors: A Double Case Study

2013

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Hypnotic suggestions may change the perceived color of objects. Given that chromatic stimulus information is processed rapidly and automatically by the visual system, how can hypnotic suggestions affect perceived colors in a seemingly immediate fashion? We studied the mechanisms of such color alterations by measuring electroencephalography in two highly suggestible participants as they perceived briefly presented visual shapes under posthypnotic color alternation suggestions such as “all the squares are blue”. One participant consistently reported seeing the suggested colors. Her reports correlated with enhanced evoked upper beta-band activity (22 Hz) 70–120 ms after stimulus in response to the shapes mentioned in the suggestion. This effect was not observed in a control condition where the participants merely tried to simulate the effects of the suggestion on behavior. The second participant neither reported color alterations nor showed the evoked beta activity, although her subjective experience and event-related potentials were changed by the suggestions. The results indicate a preconscious mechanism that first compares early visual input with a memory representation of the suggestion and consequently triggers the color alteration process in response to the objects specified by the suggestion. Conscious color experience is not purely the result of bottom-up processing but it can be modulated, at least in some individuals, by top-down factors such as hypnotic suggestions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

A Preconscious Neural Mechanism of Hypnotically Altered Colors: A Double Case Study

2013

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“…That hypnot ic performances are not simply intentional com pliance is well docum ented in demonstrations that high hypnot isables continue to respond to hypnot ic suggestions and to maintain role appropriate behaviours even when they believe they are not being observed, whereas low hypnotisables who have been asked to role-play hypnos is do not (Perugini et al, 1998 sim ilarly controlled studies of symptom display in hysteria although it would be predicted that the results would be similar.…”

Section: The Hypnosis/hysteria Paradoxmentioning

confidence: 90%

Hypnosis and Conversion Hysteria: A Unifying Model

Oakley¹

1999

Cognitive Neuropsychiatry

155

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There are many similarities between the symptoms of conversion hysteria and phenomena produced in hypnotic contexts. This paper reviews some of those similarities and considers more general features associated with both hypnotic phenomena and conversion hysteria symptoms such as lack of concern, perceived involuntariness, the display of ''implicit knowledge'' and their apparently compliant nature. Neurophysiological and brain-imaging studies of hypnotically produced effects and conversion symptoms are described, which implicate frontal cortical structures in moderating the respective changes elsewhere in the brain, particularly in cingulate cortex. A recurrent theme is the apparent paradox which exists between, on the one hand, the subjective reality and involuntariness of both hypnotic phenomena and the symptoms of conversion hysteria and, on the other, the fact that objectively they appear to be role-congruent enactments responsive to the manipulation of motivational factors, expectancy, and social influence. A model of consciousness and self-awareness is presented which attempts to resolve that paradox whilst describing similar mechanisms underlying hypnotic phenomena and conversion hysteria symptoms. The model develops the idea of a central executive structure, similar to the notion of a supervisory attentional system, acting outside self-awareness but at a late stage of information processing which can be directly influenced from both internal and external sources to produce the relevant phenomena. The paper ends by proposing that as conversion disorder, pain disorder, and the dissociation disorders appear to be linked by a common mechanism they should be classified together under the heading of auto-suggestive disorder.

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“…There are good experimental data indicating that for the most part, hypnotic responses reflect genuine changes in experience and are not merely due to role playing or faking (Perugini, Kirsch, Allen, Coldwell, Meredith, Montgomery, & Sheehan, 1998). However, the experiential and physiological changes produced by hypnosis do not require that the person be in a trance.…”

Section: Suggestion and Hypnosis: The Baby And The Bath Watermentioning

confidence: 94%

The Response Set Theory of Hypnosis

Kirsch¹

2000

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis

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The response set theory of hypnosis (Kirsch & Lynn, 1997) is an extension of response expectancy theory (Kirsch, 1985), which is rooted in social cognitive approach to understanding human experience and behavior. Although the idea of a uniquely hypnotic altered state of consciousness is rejected, so too are compliance-based explanations of hypnotic behavior. Suggestions, in or out of the social context of hypnosis, can produce profound alterations in experience, including dissociative experiences, and these can be verified through corresponding changes in brain physiology. Response expectancies play a major, but not exclusive, role in the production of subjective experience in general (Kinsbourne, 1998) and therefore of these suggested experiences as well. Because of widespread cultural beliefs about hypnosis, the hypnotic context intensifies the effects of suggestion for most people, and this is the primary source of its therapeutic effects.

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Surreptitious observation of responses to hypnotically suggested hallucinations: A test of the compliance hypothesis

Cited by 27 publications

References 10 publications

A Preconscious Neural Mechanism of Hypnotically Altered Colors: A Double Case Study

A Preconscious Neural Mechanism of Hypnotically Altered Colors: A Double Case Study

Hypnosis and Conversion Hysteria: A Unifying Model

The Response Set Theory of Hypnosis

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