Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Hypnotic suggestion: opportunities for cognitive neuroscience

Key Points

  • For well over a century, hypnotic suggestion has been used to successfully treat a wide range of clinical conditions, including chronic and acute pain, irritable bowel syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias and eating disorders.

  • Hypnosis uses the powerful effects of attention and suggestion to produce, modify and enhance a broad range of subjectively compelling experiences and behaviours.

  • Participants typically describe these perceptual and behavioural changes as 'real', not imaginary and beyond voluntary control.

  • Hypnotic suggestibility is normally distributed in human populations and remains a stable individual trait. None of the major personality variables, however, correlate with hypnotic suggestibility.

  • Many of the striking effects produced by targeted suggestions in hypnosis can be generated without prior hypnotic induction in a substantial number of people.

  • The availability of functional imaging techniques and growing acceptance of the 'cognitive unconscious' in shaping experience and behaviour has provided opportunities for cognitive neuroscientists to explore the neurocognitive correlates of hypnosis and suggestion.

  • Improvements in experimental design have made it possible to make inroads into the functional anatomy of hypnosis itself (intrinsic research). The induction of hypnosis is associated with reduced brain activity in anterior parts of the default-mode system and increased activity in prefrontal attentional systems.

  • Several recent studies using hypnotic suggestion have modified established examples of 'automaticity' in cognitive processing (such as the Flanker, Stroop and McGurk effects), demonstrating the potential that hypnotic suggestion has for probing theories of cognitive functioning in the laboratory.

  • Recent studies using hypnotic suggestion as an experimental tool for neuroscience research (instrumental research) show how manipulating subjective awareness in the laboratory can provide theoretical insights into normal brain mechanisms involved in attention, motor control, pain perception, beliefs and volition.

  • This instrumental approach allows researchers to uncover the putative cognitive origins of clinical symptoms, such as medically unexplained paralysis seen in conversion disorder (hysteria), hallucinations, delusions and alterations in control over thought and action seen in schizophrenia.

Abstract

Hypnosis uses the powerful effects of attention and suggestion to produce, modify and enhance a broad range of subjectively compelling experiences and behaviours. For more than a century, hypnotic suggestion has been used successfully as an adjunctive procedure to treat a wide range of clinical conditions. More recently, hypnosis has attracted a growing interest from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. Recent studies using hypnotic suggestion show how manipulating subjective awareness in the laboratory can provide insights into brain mechanisms involved in attention, motor control, pain perception, beliefs and volition. Moreover, they indicate that hypnotic suggestion can create informative analogues of clinical conditions that may be useful for understanding these conditions and their treatments.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Modulating the default-mode and attentional networks using hypnosis.
Figure 2: Using hypnotic suggestion to abolish the Stroop effect.
Figure 3: fMRI images of hypnotic pain and physical pain.

References

  1. Del Casale, A. et al. Neurocognition under hypnosis: findings from recent functional neuroimaging studies. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 60, 286–317 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Halligan, P. W. & Oakley, D. A. Hypnosis and cognitive neuroscience: bridging the gap. Cortex 49, 359–364 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Jamieson, G. A. Hypnosis and Conscious States: the Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Lynne, S. J. Rhue, J. W. & Kirsch, I. Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis 2nd edn (American Psychological Association, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J. The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis: Theory, Research and Practice (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Oakley, D. A. & Halligan, P. W. Hypnotic suggestion and cognitive neuroscience. Trends Cogn. Sci. 13, 264–270 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Rainville, P., Hofbauer, R. K. Paus, T., Duncan, G. H., Bushnell, M. C. & Price, D. D. Cerebral mechanisms of hypnotic induction and suggestion. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 11, 110–125 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Terhune, D. B. & Cohen Kadosh, R. The emerging neuroscience of hypnosis. Cortex 48, 382–386 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hoeft, F. et al. Functional brain basis of hypnotizability. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 69, 1064–1072 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Szechtman, H., Woody, E. Z., Bowers, K. S. & Nahmias, C. Where the imaginal appears real: a positron emission tomography study of auditory hallucinations. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 95, 1956–1960 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Kosslyn, S. M., Thompson, W. L., Costantini-Ferrando, M., Alpert, N. M. & Spiegel, D. Hypnotic visual illusion alters color processing in the brain. Am. J. Psychiatry 157, 1279–1284 (2000). An influential paper that helped to tackle the issue of subjective report credibility in hypnotic phenomena by showing changes in colour-processing areas of the visual cortex after hypnotic suggestions.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Terhune, D. B. Cardeña, E. & Lindgren, M. Disruption of synaesthesia by posthypnotic suggestion: an ERP study. Neuropsychologia 48, 3360–3364 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Blakemore, S.-J. Oakley, D. A. & Frith. C. D. Delusions of alien control in the normal brain. Neuropsychologia 41, 1058–1067 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Rainville, P., Duncan, G. H., Price, D. D., Carrier, B. & Bushnell, M. C. Pain affect encoded in human anterior cingulate but not somatosensory cortex. Science 277, 968–971 (1997).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Valentini, E., Betti, V., Hu, L. & Aglioti, S. M. Hypnotic modulation of pain perception and of brain activity triggered by nociceptive laser stimuli. Cortex 49, 446–462 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Derbyshire, S. W. G., Whalley, M. G., Stenger, V. A. & Oakley, D. A. Cerebral activation during hypnotically induced and imagined pain. Neuroimage 23, 392–401 (2004). The first research report that used hypnotic suggestion and neuroimaging (fMRI) to demonstrate the neural correlates of functional pain in normal subjects.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Raz, A., Shapiro, T., Fan, J. & Posner, M. I. Hypnotic suggestion and the modulation of Stroop interference. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 59, 1155–1161 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Iani, C., Ricci, F., Gherri, E. & Rubichi, S. Hypnotic suggestion modulates cognitive conflict: the case of the flanker compatibility effect. Psychol. Sci. 17, 721–727 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Lifshitz, M., Aubert-Bonn, N., Fischer, A., Kashem, I. F. & Raz, A. Using suggestion to modulate automatic processes: from Stroop to McGurk and beyond. Cortex 49, 463–473 (2013). A useful review of how top-down influences of hypnotic suggestion can selectively override cognitive processes traditionally considered involuntary and 'automatic'.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Kihlstrom, J. F. Neuro-hypnotism: prospects for hypnosis and neuroscience. Cortex 49, 365–374 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Kihlstrom, J. F. in The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness (eds Zelazo, P. D., Moscovitch, M. & Thompson, E.) 445–479 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  22. Mazzoni, G., Venneri, A., McGeown, W. J. & Kirsch, I. Neuroimaging resolution of the altered state hypothesis. Cortex 49, 400–410 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Gandhi, B. & Oakley, D. A. Does 'hypnosis' by any other name smell as sweet? The efficacy of 'hypnotic' inductions depends on the label 'hypnosis'. Conscious. Cogn. 14, 304–315 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Kihlstrom, J. F. in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis (eds Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J.) 21–52 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008). An authoritative overview of the procedures, experiences and social context involved in hypnosis, including an important discussion of the proposition that hypnosis reflects an altered state of consciousness.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Kahn, S. & Fromm, E. in Contemporary Hypnosis Research (eds Fromm, E. & Nash, M. R.) 90–404 (Guilford Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Oakley, D, A. Hypnosis and conversion hysteria: a unifying model. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 4, 243–265 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Bell, V., Oakley, D. A., Halligan, P. W. & Deeley, Q. Dissociation in hysteria and hypnosis: evidence from cognitive neuroscience. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 82, 332–339 (2011). A comprehensive review of 'hysteria' and the theoretical implications for conditions affecting voluntary motor or sensory function that have been modelled using hypnosis.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Raz, A. Hypnosis; a twilight zone of the top-down variety. Trends Cogn. Sci. 15, 555–557 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Kirsch, I., Mazzoni, G. & Montgomery, G. H. Remembrance of hypnosis past. Am. J. Clin. Hypn. 49, 171–178 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Braffman, W. & Kirsch, I. Imaginative suggestibility and hypnotizability: an empirical analysis. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 77, 578–587 (1999). An important and influential paper that provides a timely reminder that responsiveness to 'hypnotic' suggestions does not necessarily require hypnotic induction in highly suggestible individuals.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Kirsch, I. & Lynn, S. J. The altered state of hypnosis: changes in the theoretical landscape. Am. Psychol. 50, 846–858 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Cardeña, E., Jönsson, P., Terhune, D. B. & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. The neurophenomenology of neutral hypnosis. Cortex 49, 375–385 (2013). A well-crafted study showing how variations in EEG band wave activity is dependent on phenomenology and hypnotic suggestibility when subjects engaged in a hypnotic state in which targeted suggestions were excluded.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. McGeown, W. J., Mazzoni, G., Venneri, A. & Kirsch, I. Hypnotic induction decreases anterior default mode activity. Conscious. Cogn. 18, 848–855 (2009). The first published research paper to show decreased brain activity in the anterior parts of the default-mode circuit in highly suggestible participants during hypnosis, confirming a distinctive and unique pattern of brain activation.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Deeley, Q. et al. Modulating the default mode network using hypnosis. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypnosis 60, 206–228 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. McGeown, W. J. et al. Suggested visual hallucination without hypnosis enhances activity in visual areas of the brain. Conscious. Cogn. 21, 100–116 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Woody, E. Z. & Barnier, A. J. in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis (eds Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J.) 255–281 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  37. Woody, E. Z., Barnier, A. J. & McConkey, K. M. Multiple hypnotizabilities: differentiating the building blocks of hypnotic response. Psychol. Assess. 17, 200–211 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Weitzenhoffer, A. M. The Practice of Hypnotism 2nd edn (Wiley & Sons, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  39. Sheehan, P. W. & McConkey, K. M. Hypnosis and Experience: The Exploration of Phenomena and Process (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1982).

    Google Scholar 

  40. Brown, R. J. & Oakley, D. A. in The Highly Hypnotizable Person: Theoretical, Experimental and Clinical Issues (eds Heap, M., Brown, R. J. & Oakley, D. A.) 152–186 (Routledge, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  41. McConkey, K. M., Glisky, M. L. & Kihlstrom, J. F. Individual differences among hypnotic virtuosos: a case comparison. Aust. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 17, 131–140 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  42. Polito, V., Barnier, A. J. & Woody, E. Z. Developing the Sense of Agency Rating Scale (SOARS): an empirical measure of agency disruption in hypnosis. Conscious. Cogn. 22, 684–696 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Kirsch, I. & Council, J. R. in Contemporary Hypnosis Research (eds Fromm, E. & Nash, M. R.) 67–291 (Guilford Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  44. Laurence, J.-R., Beaulieu-Prévost, D. & du Chéné, T. in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis: Theory, Research and Practice (eds Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J.) 225–253 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  45. Silva, C., Bridges, K. R. & Metzger, M. Personality, expectancy and hypnotizability. Pers. Individ. Dif. 39, 131–142 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Silva, C. E. & Kirsch, I. Interpretive sets, expectancy, fantasy proneness and dissociation as predictors of hypnotic response. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 63, 847–856 (1992).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Holmes, E. A. et al. Are there two qualitatively distinct forms of dissociation? A review and some clinical implications. Clin. Psychol. Rev. 25, 1–23 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Wickramasekera, I. E. & Szlyk, J. P. Could empathy be a predictor of hypnotic ability? Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 51, 390–399 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. Tasso, A. F. & Perez, N. A. in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis (eds Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J.) 283–309 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  50. Gruzelier, J. H. A working model of the neurophysiology of hypnosis: a review of the evidence. Contemp. Hypn. 15, 3–21 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Crawford, H. J. & Gruzelier, J. H. in Contemporary Hypnosis Research (eds Fromm, E. & Nash, M. R.) 227–266 (Guilford Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  52. Naish, P. L. Hypnosis and hemispheric asymmetry. Conscious. Cogn. 19, 230–234 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Kihlstrom, J. F., Glisky, M. L., McGovern. S., Rapcsak, S. Z. & Mennemeier, M. S. Hypnosis in the right hemisphere. Cortex 49, 393–399 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Raz, A. & Shapiro, T. Hypnosis and neuroscience: a cross talk between clinical and cognitive research. Arch. General Psychiatry 59, 85–90 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Horton, J. E., Crawford, H. J., Harrington, G. & Downs, J. H. Increased anterior corpus callosum size associated positively with hypnotizability and the ability to control pain. Brain 127, 1741–1747 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Banich, M. T. in The Asymmetrical Brain (eds Davidson, R. J. & Hugdahl, K.) 261–302 (MIT Press, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  57. Ruekert, L. & Levy, J. Further evidence that the callosum is involved in sustaining attention. Neuropsychologia 34, 927–935 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Dienes, Z. & Hutton, S. Understanding hypnosis metacognitively: rTMS applied to DLPFC increases hypnotic suggestibility. Cortex 49, 386–392 (2013). A novel study that used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to show that responsiveness to hypnotic suggestion could be increased by disrupting activity in frontal cortical areas.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Dienes, Z. & Perner, J. in Hypnosis and Conscious States: The Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective (ed. Jamieson, G.) 293–314 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  60. Greicius, M., Srivastava, G., Reiss, A. & Menon, V. Default-mode network activity distinguishes Alzheimer's disease from healthy aging: evidence from functional MRI. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 4637–4642 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  61. Piccione, C., Hilgard, E. R. & Zimbardo, P. G. On the degree of stability of measured hypnotizability over a 25-year period. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 56, 289–295 (1989).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Morgan, A. H. The heritability of hypnotic suggestibility in twins. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 82, 55–61 (1973).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Lichtenberg, P., Bachner-Melman, R., Gritsenko, I. & Ebstein, R. P. Exploratory association study between catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) high/low enzyme activity polymorphism and hypnotizability. Am. J. Med. Genet. 96, 771–774 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Raz, A. Attention and hypnosis: neural substrates and genetic associations of two converging processes. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 53, 237–258 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Weinberger, D. R. et al. Prefrontal neurons and the genetics of schizophrenia. Biol. Psychiatry 50, 825–844 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Fan, J., McCandliss, B. D., Sommer, T., Raz, A. & Posner, M. I. Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 14, 340–347 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Rhue, J. in The Highly Hypnotizable Person: Theoretical, Experimental and Clinical Issues (eds Heap, M. Brown, R. J. & Oakley, D. A.) 115–132 (Brunner-Routledge, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  68. Plotnick, A., Payne, P. & O'Grady, D. Correlates of hypnotizability in children: absorption, vividness of imagery, fantasy play and social desirability. Am. J. Clin. Hypn. 34, 51–58 (1991).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  69. Woody, E. Z. & Bowers, K. S. in Dissociation: Clinical and Theoretical Perspectives (eds Lynn, S. J. & Rhue. J. W.) 52–79 (Guilford Press, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  70. Mendelsohn, A., Chalamish, Y., Solomonovich, A. & Dudai, Y. Mesmerising memories: brain substrates of episodic memory suppression in posthypnotic amnesia. Neuron 57, 159–170 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Klein, K. B. & Spiegel, D. Modulation of gastric acid secretion by hypnosis, Gastroenterology 96, 1383–1387 (1989).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  72. Ward, N. S., Oakley, D. A. Frackowiak, R. S. J. & Halligan, P. W. Differential brain activations during intentionally simulated and subjectively experienced paralysis. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 8, 295–312 (2003).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  73. Barnier, A. J. & McConkey, K. M. Post-hypnotic responding away from the hypnotic setting. Psychol. Sci. 9, 256–262 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Kirsch, I. & Braffman, W. Imaginative suggestibility and hypnotizability. Curr. Direct. Psychol. Sci. 10, 57–61 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  75. Lifshitz, M., Campbell, N. K. J. & Raz, A. Varieties of attention in hypnosis and meditation. Conscious. Cogn. 21, 1582–1585 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  76. Hull, C. L. Hypnosis and Suggestibility: an Experimental Approach (Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1933).

    Google Scholar 

  77. Gauchau, H. L. Rensink, R. A. & Fels, S. Expression of nonconscious knowledge via ideomotor actions. Conscious. Cogn. 21, 976–982 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Hall, L., Johansson, P., Tärning, B., Sikström, S. & Deutgen, T. Magic at the market place: choice blindness for the taste of Jam and the smell of tea. Cognition 117, 54–61 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  79. Michael, R. B., Garry, M. & Kirsch, I. Suggestion, cognition and behavior. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 21, 151–156 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Kirsch, I. Conditioning, expectancy and the placebo effect: comment on Stewart-Williams and Podd (2004). Psychol. Bull. 130, 341–343 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  81. Derbyshire, S. W. G., Whalley, M. G. & Oakley, D. A. Fibromyalgia pain and its modulation by hypnotic and non-hypnotic suggestion: an fMRI analysis. Eur. J. Pain 13, 542–550 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  82. Whalley, M. G. & Brooks, G. B. Enhancement of suggestibility and imaginative ability with nitrous oxide. Psychopharmacology 203, 745–752 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  83. Shiffrin, R. M. & Schneider, W. Controlled and automatic human information processing. II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychol. Rev. 84, 127–190 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  84. Nordby, H., Hugdahl, K., Jasiukaitis, P. & Spiegel, D. Effects of hypnotizability on performance of a Stroop task and event-related potentials. Percept. Mot. Skills 88, 819–830 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  85. Terhune, D. B. & Brugger, P. Doing better by getting worse: posthypnotic amnesia improves random number generation. PLoS ONE 6, e29206 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  86. Oakley, D. A. & Halligan, P. W. in Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis 2nd edn (eds Lynn, S. J., Rhue, J. W. & Kirsch, I.) 79–117 (American Psychological Association, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  87. Howard, R. J. et al. The functional anatomy of imagining and perceiving colour. Neuroreport 9, 1019–1023 (1998).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  88. Haggard, P., Cartledge, P., Dafydd, M. & Oakley, D. A. Anomalous control: when 'free will' is not conscious. Conscious. Cogn. 13, 646–654 (2004).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  89. Hofbauer, R. K., Rainville, P., Duncan, G. H. & Bushnell, M. C. Cortical representation of the sensory dimension of pain. J. Neurophysiol. 86, 402–411 (2001). The second of two, now classic, studies in which hypnotic suggestions targeting either the affective or the sensory components of a physically induced pain experience resulted in activation in selective and different areas of the brain.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  90. Maravita, A., Cigada, M. & Posteraro, L. Talking to the senses: modulation of tactile extinction through hypnotic suggestion. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 6, 210 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  91. Oakley, D. A., Whitman, L. G. & Halligan, P. W. Hypnotic imagery as a treatment for phantom limb pain: two cases and a review. Clin. Rehabil. 16, 368–377 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  92. Diamond, S. G., Davis, O. C., Schaechter, J. D. & Howe, R. D. Hypnosis for rehabilitation after stroke: six case studies. Contemp. Hypn. 23, 173–180 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  93. Kirsch, I., Montgomery, G. & Sapirstein, G. Hypnosis as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy: a meta-analysis. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 63, 214–220 (1995).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  94. Montgomery, G. H., DuHamel, K. N. & Redd, W. H. A meta-analysis of hypnoticall induced analgesia: how effective is hypnosis? Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 48, 138–153 (2000).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  95. Moore, M. & Tasso, A. F. in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis: Theory, Research and Practice (eds Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J.) 697–725 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  96. Reyher, J. A paradigm for determining the clinical relevance of hypnotically induced psychopathology. Psychol. Bull. 59, 344–352 (1962).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  97. Kihlstrom, J. F. & Hoyt, I. P. in Delusional Beliefs: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (eds Oltmanns, T. F. & Maher, B. A.) 66–109 (Wiley, 1988).

    Google Scholar 

  98. Cox, R. E. & Barnier, A. J. Hypnotic illusions and clinical delusions: hypnosis as a research method. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 15, 202–232 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  99. Barnier, A. J. Post-hypnotic amnesia for autobiographical episodes: a laboratory model of functional amnesia? Psychol. Sci. 13, 232–237 (2002).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  100. Halligan, P. W., Athwal, B. S., Oakley, D. A. & Frackowiak, R. S. J. The functional anatomy of a hypnotic paralysis: implications for conversion hysteria. Lancet 356, 986–987 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  101. Woody, E. & Szechtman, H. Using hypnosis to develop and test models of psychopathology. J. Mind Body Regul. 1, 4–16 (2011).

    Google Scholar 

  102. Halligan, P. W. in Psychogenic Movement Disorders and Other Conversion Disorders (eds Hallet, M. et al.) 120–133 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  103. Hellhammer, D. H. & Hellhammer, J. (eds) Stress. The Brain–Body Connection Vol. 174 (Karger, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  104. Sharpe, M. & Carson, A. Unexplained somatic symptoms, functional syndromes, and somatization: do we need a paradigm shift? Ann. Intern. Med. 134, 926–930 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  105. Burgmer, M. et al. The mirror neuron system under hypnosis: brain substrates of voluntary and involuntary motor activation in hypnotic paralysis. Cortex 49, 437–445 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  106. Cojan, Y., Archimi, A., Cheseaux, N., Waber, L. & Vuillemier, P. Time course of motor inhibition during hypnotic paralysis: EEG topographical and source analysis. Cortex 49, 423–436 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  107. Deeley, Q. et al. The functional anatomy of suggested limb paralysis. Cortex 49, 411–422 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  108. Casiglia, E. et al. Neurophysiological correlates of post-hypnotic alexia: a controlled study with Stroop test. Am. J. Clin. Hypn. 52, 219–233 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  109. Hassin, R., Uleman, J. & Bargh, J. (eds) The New Unconscious (Oxford Univ. Press, 2005).

    Google Scholar 

  110. Kihlstrom, J. F. The cognitive unconscious. Science 237, 1445–1452 (1987). Using examples from automatic processes, subliminal perception, implicit memory and hypnosis, this influential paper helped to generate renewed interest in cognitive structures and processes outside conscious awareness.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  111. Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H. J. & Haynes, J. D. Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neurosci. 11, 543–545 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  112. Raz, A. & Wolfson, J. From dynamic lesions to brain imaging of behavioural lesions: alloying the gold of psychoanalysis with the copper of suggestion. Neuropsychoanalysis 12 (2010).

  113. Pintar, J. & Lynn, S. J. Hypnosis: A Brief History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). A compelling authoritative introduction to the field, this brief history covers hypnosis beliefs, practices, theories and research from Mesmer to the present day, including reference to its social context and relationship with mainstream psychology.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  114. Tomalin, C. Charles Dickens: A Life (Penguin Press, 2011).

    Google Scholar 

  115. Gallup, G. G. Animal hypnosis: factual status of a fictional concept. Psychol. Bull. 81, 836–853 (1974).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  116. Spiegel, D. in The Oxford Handbook of Hypnosis (eds Nash, M. R. & Barnier, A. J.) 179–199 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2008).

    Google Scholar 

  117. Gauld, A. A History of Hypnotism (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995).

    Google Scholar 

  118. Oakley, D.A. in From the Couch to the Lab: Trends in Psychodynamic Neuroscience (ed. Fotopoulou, A.) 356–372 (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  119. Oakley, D. A., Deeley, Q. & Halligan, P. W. Hypnotic depth and response to suggestion under standardised conditions and during fMRI scanning. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 55, 32–58 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  120. Zimbardo, P. G., Andersen, S. M. & Kabat, L. G. Induced hearing deficit generates experimental paranoia. Science 212, 1529–1531 (1981).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  121. Sutcliffe, J. P. “Credulous” and “skeptical” views of hypnotic phenomena: experiments on esthesia, hallucination, and delusion. J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 62, 189–200 (1961).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  122. Noble, J. & McConkey, K. M. Hypnotic sex change: creating and challenging a delusion in the laboratory. J. Abnorm. Psychol. 104, 69–74 (1995).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  123. Burn, C., Barnier, A. J. & McConkey, K. M. Information processing during hypnotically suggested sex change. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 49, 231–242 (2001).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  124. Rahmanovic, A., Barnier, A. J., Cox, R. E., Langdon, R. A. & Coltheart, M. 'That's not my arm': a hypnotic analogue of somatoparaphrenia. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 17, 36–63 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  125. Barnier, A. J. et al. Developing hypnotic analogues of clinical delusions: mirrored-self misidentification. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 13, 406–430 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  126. Connors, M. H., Cox, R. E., Barnier, A. J., Langdon, R. & Coltheart, M. Mirror agnosia and the mirrored-self misidentification delusion: a hypnotic analogue. Cogn. Neuropsychiatry 17, 197–226 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  127. Langdon, R. & Coltheart, M. The cognitive neuropsychology of delusions. Mind Lang. 15, 184–218 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  128. Coltheart, M., Langdon, R. & McKay, R. Delusional belief. Ann. Rev. Psychology 62, 271–298 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  129. Grueter, M. et al. Hereditary prosopagnosia: the first case series. Cortex 43, 734–749 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to J. Kihlstrom and I. Kirsch for their encouraging and helpful comments on an earlier version of this review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to David A. Oakley or Peter W. Halligan.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PowerPoint slides

Glossary

Interrogative suggestibility

The tendency, during cross-examination, to yield to leading questions and to shift replies once interpersonal pressure has been applied.

Placebo suggestibility

An expectancy-based tendency to experience a positive outcome after the administration of an inert substance or ineffective treatment.

Chevreul pendulum effect

A pendulum held by an individual is experienced as moving 'all by itself' in response to expectation or suggestion (see 'ideomotor movement').

Hypnotic analogues

Reversible simulations of clinical conditions produced by tailored hypnotic suggestions informed by clinical phenomenology.

Ideomotor movements

Apparently involuntary or spontaneous movements of the body or held objects corresponding to an individual's thoughts or beliefs but produced by unconscious motor activity.

Psychosomatic interactions

When an individual's erroneous belief (for example, “I touched a poisonous leaf”) results in a bodily reaction (for example, inflammation of the skin).

Choice blindness

The failure to notice that the consequences of a previous freely made choice have changed.

Postural sway

The tendency of the body to sway from side to side or front to back when standing still.

Alexia

An acquired inability to read.

Gender change

The creation (for example, by hypnotic suggestion) of a subjectively compelling belief in an individual that their sexual identity has been reassigned.

Intermetamorphosis

The belief that one has physically and psychologically become another person.

Somatoparaphrenia

A delusional belief that one's own limb belongs to someone else.

Mirrored-self-misidentification

The belief that one's reflection in the mirror is a stranger.

Associative prosopagnosia

The loss, or significant impairment, of the ability to recognize familiar people by their face.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Oakley, D., Halligan, P. Hypnotic suggestion: opportunities for cognitive neuroscience. Nat Rev Neurosci 14, 565–576 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3538

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3538

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing