Neurophysiologists at Stanford have followed what happens in the brain when they fall into a trance during hypnosis, and have discovered several zones, changes in the work of which can cause this condition, according to an article published in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
“Now we know which regions of the brain are associated with the onset of trance, and we now have the opportunity to use this knowledge in order to make someone more or less susceptible to hypnosis or to increase its effectiveness in certain cases. For example, we can help people who use hypnosis to cope with pain,”said David Spiegel of Stanford University (USA).
Spiegel and his colleagues found out how hypnosis works by observing changes in the activity of various parts of the brain and fluctuations in brain waves in six dozen volunteers trying to get rid of stress, pain and anxiety using hypnosis.
As the scientist notes, today almost all doctors do not doubt the therapeutic potential of real hypnosis, but no one knows how and why this phenomenon works, which transfers a person into a state of heightened suggestibility, which allows psychologists to fight a variety of disorders and negative phenomena in the work of our psyche. …
Stanford neurophysiologists were interested in why only 10% of the world's population lends itself well to hypnosis, and most of the inhabitants of the Earth either reacted poorly to it, or were generally invulnerable to its action. Trying to answer this question, scientists selected from a group of about 500 volunteers three dozen people most susceptible to hypnosis, and a similar number of "non-believers" in hypnosis, on whom this method of suggestion did not work at all.
By observing their brains using MRI at rest and during hypnosis, scientists tried to find differences in how the nervous systems of "hypnotized" and "nonbelievers" in hypnosis responded to attempts by scientists to put them into a trance.
This technique allowed Spiegel's team to distinguish three regions of the brain, the activity of which and the nature of the connections with other parts of the nervous system markedly changed during hypnosis. These included the posterior part of the anterior cingulate cortex, neurons connecting the posterior part of the frontal cortex and the so-called islet of the brain, as well as cells that connect this part of the cortex with the so-called passive mode network (DMN).
The first region, as scientists note, is responsible for rational thinking, the second group of cells - for control over the body, and the third - for consciousness and understanding that a person is performing some actions. In the first and third zones, the level of activity fell during hypnosis, and in the second - increased, and the absence of such reactions in the brain of “non-believers” may explain why hypnosis does not work on them.
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This fact, according to scientists from Stanford, can be used to create "hypnomats" - devices that will temporarily increase a person's sensitivity to hypnosis by acting on these regions of the brain using magnetic fields. This will help them, neurophysiologists hope, to better fight pain and mental disorders using hypnosis and entering a trance state.