The investigation will assess the brain activation connectivity patterns associated with hypnosis and possible hypnotic sub-states by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). For that purpose, 50 healthy participants highly familiar with hypnosis (according to the OMNI-method) will be recruited and tested.
Despite the growing number of studies investigating of the physiological underpinnings of hypnosis by means of neuroimaging methods such as electroencephalography (EEG) positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), still no consensus exists regarding the underlying neurophysiological working mechanisms due to high levels of variability in the data. Generally, the variability observed in research examining the neurobiological fundamentals of hypnosis could be attributed to the following characteristics: 1. Heterogeneity regarding hypnotic induction procedures. 2. Insufficient statistical power. 3. Mono-Modality: Studies investigating the neurophysiologic mechanisms of hypnosis typically apply only one method for the investigation of their research questions. However, different techniques complement each other, hence, resulting in a more thorough understanding of the mechanisms of action. In this project, the investigators present a multimodal approach, in which these three points are considered in order to provide a comprehensive picture with respect to psycho- and neurophysiologic fundamentals of hypnosis and proposed distinct hypnotic states. Point 1) will be approached by applying a highly reproducible method for the hypnotic induction (OMNI-hypnosis). This hypnosis method is fast, direct and all OMNI educated hypnotherapists follow exactly the same induction procedure. This implies a high level of standardization and operationalization, crucial prerequisites to investigate the phenomenon based on scientific guidelines. Point 2) will be addressed by including a homogeneous study sample of 50 highly suggestible participants. Furthermore, the comparably high number of 50 participants should ensure sufficient statistical power particularly in consideration of the homogeneity of the study sample. Point 3) is addressed by following a multimodal approach combining a vast array of psychophysiological measures with multimodal neuroimaging. For that purpose, the project will be divided into three studies: A EEG- and psychophysiological study, a fMRI-study and a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) study. In the present study, fMRI is applied for the investigation of network dynamics associated with hypnotic states. Hypnotic states will be compared to control states which follow mock instructions matched to the hypnosis instructions.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
50
The hypnosis intervention consists of two elements: A hypnotic induction and a hypnotic deepening. The induction aims at guiding the participant into the first hypnotic state (state 1). The participants will remain in this state for 10 minutes, the duration of the fMRI-scan. The hypnotic deepening guides the participants into a very deep hypnotic state (state 2). Participants also remain in this state for 10 minutes, during which their brain activity is measured using fMRI
The control intervention consists of texts corresponding to the induction and deepening of the hypnosis intervention. They are matched in duration and consist of textually matched excerpts from www.wikipedia.org. Control induction will be presented, resulting in the control state 1 (10 min). Then the control deepening will be performed, leading to the control state 2 (10 minutes). During both control states the brain activity will be recorded using fMRI.
University of Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Differences in resting state functional connectivity (assessed using fMRI) between the four conditions (control state 1 & 2, hypnotic state 1 & 2)
Time frame: 90 minutes
Differences in heart rate variability (assessed during fMRI measurements) between the four conditions (control state 1 & 2, hypnotic state 1 & 2)
Time frame: 90 minutes
Differences respiratory frequency (assessed during fMRI measurements) between the four conditions (control state 1 & 2, hypnotic state 1 & 2)
Time frame: 90 minutes
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