Hypnotic Automaticity in the Brain at Rest: An Arterial Spin Labelling Study

Abstract

The feeling of automaticity reported by individuals undergoing a hypnotic procedure is an essential dimension of hypnosis phenomenology. In the present study, healthy participants rated their subjective experience of automaticity and resting-state arterial spin labelling (ASL) scans were acquired before and after a standard hypnotic induction (i.e., perceived automaticity was positively associated with activity in the parietal operculum (PO) and seed-based coactivation analysis revealed additional associations in the anterior part of the supracallosal cingulate cortex (aMCC). This is consistent with the role of these regions in perceived self-agency and volition and demonstrates that these effects can be evidenced at rest, in the absence of overt motor challenges. Future studies should further examine if/how these changes in brain activity associated with automaticity might facilitate the responses to suggestions and contribute to clinical benefits of hypnosis.

Brain Responses to Hypnotic Verbal Suggestions Predict Pain Modulation

“…The robust BOLD decrease in these regions is independent of the direction of the suggestions. This response during suggestions is interpreted in line with the role of PO and aMCC as being part of the fronto-parietal network associated with self-regulation of cognitive control and its experience ( 5 , 47 , 48 ).…”

“…While PO is part of a network responsible for the experience of agency ( 47 , 48 ), its deactivation may be interpreted as a change in this network during hypnotic suggestions. Hypnosis is generally associated with a diminution of agency experience, resulting in a feeling of automaticity, supported by the activation of PO at rest during hypnotic states ( 5 ). Nevertheless, the deactivation observed during suggestion in this study is consistent with predictions by Martin and Pacherie ( 50 ).…”

“…Participants were asked to stop consuming alcohol during the 24 h preceding the scan, and to refrain from consuming coffee and tea on the day of the experiment. All participants were part of a separate psychophysiological experiment involving similar experimental conditions prior to the present fMRI study ( 5 ). All experimental procedures met the guidelines of the latest revision of the Declaration of Helsinki and were approved by the ethics committee of the CRIUGM.…”

“…The second part of the experiment consisted of a brain imaging session in which a structural scan, resting-state arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion, and pain-related blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI data were acquired. Results of the ASL scans are reported in a separate article ( 5 ).…”

“…After each fMRI scan, additional suggestions taken from the induction procedure (e.g., count) were given to suggest the maintenance or the deepening of the hypnotic state. Subjective reports of the experience of automaticity and hypnotic depth were taken outside of the pain fMRI runs, as described in our previous report of the rsASL results ( 5 ).…”