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Related Experiment Videos

Anomalous control: when 'free-will' is not conscious.

Patrick Haggard1, Peter Cartledge, Meilyr Dafydd

  • 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK. p.haggard@ucl.ac.uk

Consciousness and Cognition
|September 1, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Hypnosis can induce a feeling of involuntariness in voluntary movements, mimicking psychopathology. This altered sense of control, or anomalous control, differs from normal free will experiences.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • The subjective experience of free will is central to self-perception.
  • Certain psychopathological conditions involve actions perceived as involuntary.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the experience of anomalous control using hypnosis in healthy individuals.
  • To compare subjective time estimations for voluntary, passive, and hypnotically-induced involuntary movements.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized hypnosis to suggest involuntariness for a voluntary finger movement in participants.
  • Compared subjective experiences and time estimations across three conditions: voluntary, passive, and suggested involuntary movements.

Main Results:

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  • Hypnosis did not alter the subjective experience of voluntariness for standard voluntary or passive movements.
  • Subjective time estimations for hypnotically-induced involuntary movements more closely resembled those for passive movements.

    • Conclusions:

    • The experience of anomalous control, induced by suggestion, is qualitatively and quantitatively distinct from normal intentional action.
    • Anomalous control can be experimentally generated via suggestion, independent of psychopathology.