Prism Adaptation in hypnotically limb-anesthetized subjects: more disconfirming data

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Hypnosis Research

Background:

• Prism adaptation studies investigate perceptual recalibration.
• Hypnotic suggestions can alter subjective experiences, but their effect on automatic processes is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if hypnotically suggested arm anesthesia affects adaptation to displacing prisms.
• To determine if hypnotic suggestions influence automatic perceptual recalibration.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments used prism adaptation tasks with highly hypnotizable subjects.
• Subjects adapted to prisms with a hypnotically anesthetized arm.
• Post-adaptation tests assessed displacement aftereffects under different post-hypnotic suggestion conditions.

Main Results:

• All groups in both studies exhibited significant displacement aftereffects.
• No significant differences were found between groups receiving different post-hypnotic suggestions.
• Experiment 2 contradicted the hypothesis that hypnotic anesthesia eliminates aftereffects when visual targets are absent during adaptation.

Conclusions:

• Hypnotic suggestions do not appear to influence automatic perceptual adaptation processes.
• Hypnotic limb anesthesia does not eliminate prism adaptation aftereffects.