Neuroimaging (brain scanning) studies of hypnosis
Neuroimaging studies of hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena are a particularly interesting avenue of investigation as they can sidestep the 'demand characteristics' problem common to much hypnosis research. In the past researchers have had to rely on subjective report to confirm the effectiveness of a suggestion, but with neuroimaging technology we can look to see how a suggestion affects brain function. Like other hypnosis research, neuroimaging studies can be divided according to whether they are 'instrumental' and 'intrinsic' 1, 2, 3. Instrumental studies use hypnosis or suggestion as a research tool to investigate specific phenomenon, whereas intrinsic studies focus more on what is special about hypnosis. (The distinction in the following table between intrinsic and instrumental studies sometimes isn't clear cut, but it's a useful heuristic).
It is hard to overstate how useful brain-imaging studies have been in demonstrating the effects of hypnosis to a wider audience. They have been particularly useful in demonstrating that hypnotic subjects genuinely feel the effects of suggestions as 'real' - they are not (always) faking or trying to please the experimenter.
Intrinsic studies (investigating hypnosis itself) |
Instrumental studies (using hypnosis as a tool) |
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Crawford et al 4 Rainville et al 5 Maquet et al 6 Rainville et al 7 Faymonville et al 8 Faymonville et al 9 Egner et al 10 Oakley et al 11 Derbyshire et al 12 Cojan et al 13 Vanhaudenhuyse et al 14 |
Rainville et al 15 Szechtman et al 16 Wik et al 17 Kosslyn et al 18 Willoch et al 19 Schulz-Stübner et al 20 Derbyshire et al 21 Raij et al 22 Raz et al 23 Röder et al 24 Mendelsohn et al 25 |