Brains scans proof for hypnosis

Actual physical changes in the brain caused by hypnosis have been shown by Amir Raz and his colleagues at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Over the last few decades, scientific study has explored how hypnosis can change memory, and pain perception. Hypnosis has been both a boon for pain control, and a danger with false memory syndrome. This new research suggests that hypnosis can also make it easier to solve certain types of problems.

Raz has hypnotised his subjects and then put them into a functional magnetic resonance imager.
He had sixteen subjects, of whom eight were easily hypnotisable, and eight were not. They were to take a test after being hypnotised.

The volunteers were hypnotised for twenty-five minutes, and told that when they later heard a cue, such as a coughing sound, they would see the printed words as gibberish and only be able to focus on the ink.

Researchers then brought them out of their trance state, and ten minutes later asked them to take the Stroop test while in a brain scanner.

The Stroop test has subjects name the colour of the ink of letters that spell out different colours. So that "Blue" might be spelled out in red ink. This kind of problem is known as a "cognitive conflict", and makes your brain work harder. Your brain has to use the anterior cingulate cortex to monitor the conflict, and plan for your future actions, as well as call on the visual areas and memory to identify the colour. It takes extra time. Other researchers have previously suggested that the anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain affected by hypnosis.

In the test, the easily hypnotizable individuals had better accuracy and quicker reaction times compared to the volunteers who were less responsive to hypnosis, and their brain scans showed reduced activity in the visual areas and the anterior cingulate cortex.

This gives a lot of support to those who have faced skepticism for years over the reality of hypnosis as an altered brain state, and not just some game played by hypnotist and a subject who just pretends to be hypnotised. Magician James Randi has been promoting this idea for decades, based largely on the stunts of stage hypnotists. Magicians Penn and Teller have debunked hypnosis on their TV show "Bullshit", despite admitting that there are some aspects that they can't explain with their theory that the subject is just following instructions and acting.

Amir Raz says "Words can form suggestions, and suggestions can have very, very strong effects on neurological activity".

Biopsychology newsletter
" Scans Show How Hypnosis Affects Brain Activity" Scientific American June 28