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Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?

To test the specific effects of hypnosis on the attentional components of visual awareness, we developed a posthypnotic suggestion for peripheral visual inattention inspired on the “tunnel vision” symptom of the Balint Syndrome. We constructed a dual-target visibility and discrimination paradigm, in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Anlló, Hernán, Sackur, Jérôme
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6247368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30488004
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nc/niy009
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author Anlló, Hernán
Sackur, Jérôme
author_facet Anlló, Hernán
Sackur, Jérôme
author_sort Anlló, Hernán
collection PubMed
description To test the specific effects of hypnosis on the attentional components of visual awareness, we developed a posthypnotic suggestion for peripheral visual inattention inspired on the “tunnel vision” symptom of the Balint Syndrome. We constructed a dual-target visibility and discrimination paradigm, in which single-digit numerical targets were placed both on the hypnotically affected peripheral space and on the remaining undisturbed central area. Results were 3-fold: (i) when compared to participants of Low hypnotic susceptibility (Lows), highly susceptible participants (Highs) presented decreased subjective visibility; (ii) Highs did not show dual-task interference from peripheral targets (an effect of unconscious processing) during hypnotic suggestion to not attend them, but Lows did; (iii) nevertheless, when asked to execute a discrimination task over these same targets, Highs performed with the same accuracy as Lows. These results suggest that the hypnotic manipulation of visuospatial attention did produce an experiential change in Highs, but not one that could be mapped onto interference at a single (conscious or unconscious) level of processing. Rather, we posit that Highs simultaneously displayed (i) a fluctuation in awareness of peripheral targets coherent with the suggestion and (ii) a control strategy that involved removing hypnotically unattended targets from the task set whenever task instructions would allow for it. In light of these findings, we argue that hypnosis cannot be used as a tool to restrict the processing of otherwise supraliminal stimulation to subliminal levels.
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spelling pubmed-62473682018-11-28 Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness? Anlló, Hernán Sackur, Jérôme Neurosci Conscious Research Article To test the specific effects of hypnosis on the attentional components of visual awareness, we developed a posthypnotic suggestion for peripheral visual inattention inspired on the “tunnel vision” symptom of the Balint Syndrome. We constructed a dual-target visibility and discrimination paradigm, in which single-digit numerical targets were placed both on the hypnotically affected peripheral space and on the remaining undisturbed central area. Results were 3-fold: (i) when compared to participants of Low hypnotic susceptibility (Lows), highly susceptible participants (Highs) presented decreased subjective visibility; (ii) Highs did not show dual-task interference from peripheral targets (an effect of unconscious processing) during hypnotic suggestion to not attend them, but Lows did; (iii) nevertheless, when asked to execute a discrimination task over these same targets, Highs performed with the same accuracy as Lows. These results suggest that the hypnotic manipulation of visuospatial attention did produce an experiential change in Highs, but not one that could be mapped onto interference at a single (conscious or unconscious) level of processing. Rather, we posit that Highs simultaneously displayed (i) a fluctuation in awareness of peripheral targets coherent with the suggestion and (ii) a control strategy that involved removing hypnotically unattended targets from the task set whenever task instructions would allow for it. In light of these findings, we argue that hypnosis cannot be used as a tool to restrict the processing of otherwise supraliminal stimulation to subliminal levels. Oxford University Press 2018-11-20 /pmc/articles/PMC6247368/ /pubmed/30488004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nc/niy009 Text en © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Anlló, Hernán
Sackur, Jérôme
Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
title Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
title_full Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
title_fullStr Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
title_full_unstemmed Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
title_short Can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
title_sort can hypnosis displace the threshold for visual consciousness?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6247368/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30488004
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nc/niy009
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