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Hypnosis and the Dissociation of Cognitive Control

Janelle Cleary1*, Graham Jamieson2, Rodney Croft1, Bruce Findlay3 and Simon Hammond2
  • 1 University of Wollongong, Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences / School of Psychology, Australia
  • 2 University of New England, Faculty of Arts & Sciences / School of Behavioural, Cognitive & Social Sciences, Australia
  • 3 Swinburne University of Technology, Faculty of Life & Social Sciences / School of Psychological Sciences & Statistics, Australia

In individuals with a high susceptibility to hypnosis, an induction rapidly, reliably and reversibly produces remarkable changes in the control of thought and action. This is hypothesised to involve a breakdown between conflict monitoring and control. Kaiser et al. (1997) reported a dissociation between components the early Ne (negative) and later Pe (positive) components of error related potentials in high(er) hypnotically susceptible persons under hypnosis. Pe (but not Ne) decreased for participants with a high susceptibility to hypnosis after hypnotic induction. If confirmed this finding is important for understanding dissociation of cognitive control in hypnosis and for discriminating the functional roles of the Ne and the Pe.
The Kaiser et al. (1997) study had serious methodological weaknesses. It did not employ a standardized measure of hypnotic susceptibility and did not follow accepted protocols to establish low and high susceptible groups prior to testing. This study aims to replicate Kaiser et al. (1997) while correcting these methodological problems. It sought to test the theory that hypnosis induces dissociation between conflict monitoring and control mechanisms by examining the effect of susceptibility and hypnotic induction on the Ne and Pe. It replicated the impaired Pe finding but found that Ne was actually enhanced in hypnotized high susceptible suggesting impairment in the control modulation (but not error detection) mechanism under hypnosis and provides evidence that dissociation in the error detection - cognitive control feedback loop occurs during hypnosis.

Keywords: Hypnosis, dissociation, cognitive control, EEG, NE, Pe

Conference: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.

Presentation Type: Poster Presentation

Topic: Executive Processes

Citation: Cleary J, Jamieson G, Croft R, Findlay B and Hammond S (2012). Hypnosis and the Dissociation of Cognitive Control. Conference Abstract: ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00133

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Received: 11 Oct 2012; Published Online: 17 Nov 2012.

* Correspondence: Mrs. Janelle Cleary, University of Wollongong, Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences / School of Psychology, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia, janelle.cleary@exemail.com.au