Experiment · 2005
Hypnotic suggestion reduces conflict in the human brain
Listen instead of reading · 35 minDirty Mind: Dirty Talk Hypnosis – Find Your Own WordsNo script, no borrowed lines: a trance that lets your own words out – in a lower, slower voice. Raz, A., Fan, J., & Posner, M. I. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(28), 9978–9983
Main finding
In highly hypnotizable participants the suggestion reduced Stroop conflict and was accompanied by reduced activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region involved in detecting conflict, and in visual areas.
What was done
A follow-up to the 2002 Stroop study using brain imaging (fMRI) and EEG. Highly and less hypnotizable participants did the Stroop task with and without the suggestion that the words were meaningless.
What the study does not show
Imaging shows where activity changes, not what causes the experience. Samples were small and selected for extreme hypnotizability.
Cite as
Raz, A., Fan, J., & Posner, M. I. (2005). Hypnotic suggestion reduces conflict in the human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(28), 9978–9983. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0503064102
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