You're getting sleepy...sleepy!: Subjects in the University of Hull hypnosis study were asked to imagine a non-existent cat. This isn't it. Or is it?
Courtesy rKnightA new study out of the University of Hull in Great Britain shows a person’s brain displays visible changes while under hypnosis.
Hypnosis has been around for a long time and used by professionals to help people reduce stress or pain, eliminate phobias, quit smoking, lose weight, and for just general relaxation. It’s also used as entertainment.
We’ve all seen the classic routine of volunteers in a trance running around on stage clucking like chickens. Or where somebody suddenly jumps up to dance like Pee Wee Herman when the song “Tequila” starts playing. Or where some poor fool thinks he or she is suddenly buck-naked on stage when the hypnotist utters a “trigger” word or phrase such as “monkey wrench”.
Some folks are easily hypnotized, others aren’t. When I still smoked, I had my doctor use hypnosis to help me stop (I don’t know that it worked – I still smoked after that although I did quit several years later so maybe the hypnosis planted something in my brain). In the past, I’ve volunteered at hypnosis stage shows I’ve attended but never seemed to get picked as a malleable subject. Like me you may considered myself unsusceptible to hypnosis but I believe we’ve all experienced hypnotic states when lost in music, or when driving, or just zoned out in front of the television. It’s as if the conscious brain shifts into neutral and the subconscious takes over.
In the Hull University study, researchers compared the brainwaves of ten “highly suggestible” (i.e. easily hypnotized) individuals against those of seven individuals who had low response to hypnosis. All the test subjects were asked to perform minor tasks such as “seeing” non-existent animals, or “listening” to non-existent music. During rest period between tasks brainwaves were carefully tracked using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI).
It was in these rest periods where the brains of the highly suggestible subjects showed decreased activity in the region where daydreaming or mind wandering occurred. The other group’s brains showed no such change at those times. The results give credence to the theory that hypnosis acts as a primer for individuals susceptible to suggestion.
“Our study shows that hypnosis is real,” said Dr William McGeown, a psychologist at Hull, and the study’s lead researcher. “It corresponds to a unique pattern of brain activation which was not observed in any other experimental condition and was not seen in people who were not hypnotizable.”
Results of the study were published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
Hull University press release
More about hypnosis
And even more about hypnosis
Tags : 
Juggling animation: The classic 3-ball cascade
Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsA new study appearing in the journal Nature Neuroscience explains how learning a new complex visual-motor skill, such as juggling, can lead to a significant change in the brain’s white matter. A team from Oxford's Department of Clinical Neurology did the research. Half of the study’s 24 subjects were trained to juggle in the classic three-ball cascade (see animation). They were also asked to practice the skill each day for 30 minutes. After six weeks, MRI scans revealed that the brains of those who learned to juggle showed a marked change in the white matter, the area responsible for networking the pathways in the brain’s grey matter. This new knowledge could lead to aiding in the treatment of neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Matthias Buchinger: The (astounding) Little Man from Nuremburg
in Life Science, Diversity of Organisms, Heredity, Historic Perspectives, and Human Organism
Self-portrait by Matthias Buchinger: The forward-most curls on Buchinger's left shoulder near his collar are magnified on the right to show the inscribed hidden biblical text.
Courtesy Public domain via WikipediaI recently (and literally) stumbled upon a web page about this remarkable man from the 17th century. His name was Matthias Buchinger, and despite being born without hands, legs or thighs, this guy managed to live a full and amazing life with no less than 4 wives (!?), and fathering something like 11-14 children depending on the source. But even more incredible was how - despite his severe physical deformations - Buchinger was able to rise above Nature’s challenges and become an accomplished musician, inventor, artist, model-in-a-bottle builder, and magician.
Born in Anspach, Germany in 1674, he was the youngest of nine children, and became widely known as “The Little Man from Nuremburg” performing his feats of wonder across much of Great Britain and Europe. Buchinger was only 29 inches tall, and for hands had "two excrescences which grew from his shoulder-blades, like fingers without nails" but his skills in magic, marksmanship, and music were legendary. He played several musical instruments, some of which he invented himself, was accomplished at skittles (bowling), and could dance a hornpipe as well as anyone. He was also a talented calligrapher. His engraving skills are evident by the self-portrait to the right. Hidden within his curls are seven psalms and the Lord’s Prayer written in tiny letters. Buchinger lived much of his adult life in England and Ireland, and performed before King George and many of Europe’s royalty. He died in Cork, Ireland in 1732.
I don’t know about you but I find Buchinger quite inspiring. You can read more about this human marvel in the links below.
Matthias Buchinger
More about Matthias Buchinger
And yet another site
Subscribe
I want to learn about
Science Buzz is supported by the National Science Foundation.Copyright © Science Museum of Minnesota, 2004-2010, except where noted.
Add a new comment