Does hypnotic susceptibility influence information processing speed and motor cortical preparatory activity?

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Hypnotic susceptibility, or responsiveness to suggestions during hypnosis, has been linked to reaction time.
• However, the specific brain activity changes associated with this relationship are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how hypnotic susceptibility affects information processing speed and motor cortical preparatory activity.
• To explore the neural underpinnings of faster reaction times in highly hypnotizable individuals.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-one low and fifteen high hypnotic susceptibility participants performed simple and choice reaction time tasks.
• Electroencephalography (EEG) recorded contingent negative variation (CNV), and electromyography (EMG) measured motor activity.
• Participants were tested under both hypnotized and non-hypnotized conditions.

Main Results:

• High hypnotic susceptibility participants exhibited shorter reaction times and premotor times compared to low hypnotic susceptibility participants.
• High hypnotic susceptibility individuals made fewer errors, especially in the hypnotized state for the simple reaction time task.
• A larger contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitude was observed in high hypnotic susceptibility participants, correlating with shorter premotor times.

Conclusions:

• Faster reaction times in highly hypnotically susceptible individuals are associated with greater changes in brain activity during motor preparation.
• Hypnotic susceptibility may be linked to neural mechanisms involving arousal and selective attention.