Mirror agnosia and the mirrored-self misidentification delusion: A hypnotic analogue

Abstract

Results indicate that a hypnotic suggestion for mirror agnosia can be used to recreate the mirrored-self misidentification delusion. Factors influencing the effectiveness of hypnotic analogues of psychopathology, such as participants' expectations and interpretations, are discussed.

Using hypnosis to disrupt face processing: mirrored-self misidentification delusion and different visual media

“…Not what I would normally expect to see and feel.” The one high who received the suggestion for impaired general-face recognition and maintained the delusion reported that she did not remember her experiences looking in the mirror. Such unsuggested posthypnotic amnesia is rare (Hilgard and Cooper, 1965; Hilgard, 1966; Cooper, 1979), but was also present in a participant in a previous experiment (Connors et al, 2012b). The other high given this suggestion who was impaired on the famous faces task described his experience as very compelling: “I found it extremely difficult.…”

“…It is thus not the verbatim suggestion, but the participants’ interpretation of the suggestion and ability to experience it that shapes their response (McConkey, 1991, 2008). It is important to consider these factors when designing a hypnotic analog (see Connors et al, 2012b). …”

“…Whereas a suggestion for impaired face processing or mirror agnosia may produce the content of the delusion (Factor 1), hypnosis by itself may disrupt belief evaluation (Factor 2; Connors et al, 2012a,b, 2013). People tend to accept ideas during hypnosis that they would normally reject in an ordinary, everyday state of consciousness (Shor, 1959).…”

Elucidating unconscious processing with instrumental hypnosis

“…This study underlines the importance of conscious access to certain affective signals in the phenomenology of even the utmost mundane tasks – e.g., washing your hands. In the same vein, hypnosis can also eliminate conscious access to selfhood-related information, yielding mirrored-self misidentification delusions – a monothematic delusion characterized by the inability to recognize self-reflections in the mirror (Barnier et al, 2010; Connors et al, 2012a,b, 2013). Evidence shows that this induced delusion stems from faces recognition impairment (Connors et al, 2012a, 2013).…”

“…Evidence shows that this induced delusion stems from faces recognition impairment (Connors et al, 2012a, 2013). Critically, hypnotically induced mirror agnosia – i.e., unavailability of knowledge about mirrors – also facilitates the generation of mirrored-self misidentification analogs (Connors et al, 2012b). Aside from exploring new hypotheses, research with hypnotically induced clinical analogs underlines the importance of conscious access to various sources of information, such as sense of completion or selfhood-related recognition.…”