Scientists shed light on special hypnotic state
Does a special hypnotic state exist? Scientists in Finland and Sweden suggest it does. In a new study, presented in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers from the University of Turku and University Aalto in Finland, and the University of Skövde in Sweden show how a strange stare could be the missing piece of a puzzle that has weighed on the minds of many for years. The glazed, wide-open look in a person's eyes is one of the most identifiable features of a person who has been hypnotised. But research on this popular feature has been for the most part lacklustre, with experts suggesting the lack thereof is due to this feature being seen in only a few hypnotised people. Opinions of hypnosis have varied for years in the psychology, psychiatry and neurology spheres. And for over a century, scientists have argued over whether a special hypnotic state exists or if it is just about using cognitive strategies and mental imagery in a normal waking state. Since no one has successfully and convincingly shown a hypnotic state, many scientists believed the hypnotic state to be a popular myth in psychology. Until now, that is. 'This study provides the first demonstration of the existence of a special hypnotic state, fulfilling all the strict empirical criteria for such a state (immediate induction and cancellation, objective confirmation through measurements, and inimitability),' the authors of the study write. 'Support for hypnosis as a special state has so far escaped objective measurement and verification probably because it only occurs in a small proportion of the population.' The researchers point out how their findings are in line with results obtained from both eye movement and hypnosis research. Past studies focusing on eye movement showed that the anterior cingulated cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral (dlPFC) prefrontal cortex contribute to the maintenance of visual fixation and suppression of reflexive saccades. Patterns of activation change in the same cortical areas during hypnotic induction, according to the researchers. They assessed a very highly hypnotisable subject for this study; a single word cue was enough to hypnotise and dehypnotise the participant. The researchers say the change between hypnotic state and normal state could be varied in seconds. Using sophisticated eye-tracking methodology, the team presented a set of well established oculomotor tasks that set off automotive eye behaviour. The glazed stare is linked with objectively measurable changes in automatic, reflexive eye behaviour that non-hypnotised subjects failed to duplicate. What this means for hypnosis research is that hypnosis can no longer be looked at as mental imagery that occurs during a totally normal waking state of consciousness. But they add that the finding could potentially impact the fields of psychology and cognitive neuroscience because it offers the first evidence of the existence of a conscious state in humans that has never before been scientifically substantiated. 'We suggest that hypnosis is not a normally distributed psychological phenomenon in the whole population, but rather a rare and exceptional neural property or cognitive 'skill' found in only very few individuals,' the authors write. 'In any case, our theories and background assumptions concerning hypnosis need to be revised in the light of present results.'For more information, please visit:PLoS ONE:http://www.plosone.org/home.actionUniversity of Turku:http://www.utu.fi/en/University of Aalto:http://www.aalto.fi/en/University of Skövde:http://www.his.se/english/
Countries
Finland, Sweden