Frontal lobe contributions to hypnotic susceptibility: a neuropsychological screening of executive functioning

Abstract

Current theory on the cognitive mechanisms of hypnotic experience suggests that hypnosis is mediated by a dissociation between contention-scheduling mechanisms and a supervisory attention system. This theory is based on neuropsychological research with frontal lobe dysfunction patients, who show performance deficits similar in executive functioning to hypnotized individuals. To test an extension of this theory, high hypnotically susceptible (n = 9) and low hypnotically susceptible (n = 7) participants were given four tests of executive functioning. In a baseline condition, high susceptible individuals performed significantly better on one of the four tests (the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test). The role of increased cognitive flexibility in hypnotic susceptibility is considered as a possible component of the dissociated control model of hypnosis.