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AN EMPIRICAL TEST OF WOODY
AND BOWERS’S DISSOCIATED-
CONTROL THEORY OF HYPNOSIS
GRAHAM A. JAMIESON
1,2
Imperial College London, United Kingdom, and University of Queensland, Australia
PETER W. SHEEHAN
Australian Catholic University and University of Queensland, Australia
Abstract:
Woody and Bowers’s dissociated-control theory predicts
impaired performance on tasks indexing frontally mediated super-
visory attentional functions during hypnosis, especially for high
susceptibles. This prediction is tested using Stroop task behavioral
performance to measure aspects of anterior-mediated supervisory
attentional function. All measures of anterior-mediated attentional
functions significantly declined during hypnosis. Interactions be-
tween susceptibility and hypnosis condition showed specific changes
among hypnotized high susceptibles. Total Stroop errors (failures of
attentional suppression) were significantly higher in hypnosis for
high, but not low, susceptibles. Tellegen’s experiential mental set
was highest for hypnotized highs. Use of rehearsal strategy (instru-
mental set) decreased significantly in hypnosis but more so for highs
than lows. Results suggest that ‘‘absorption’’ in hypnosis may be a
consequence of dissociated anterior attentional control. It is proposed
that dissociated control emerges from the functional disconnection of
left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex.
According to Woody and Bowers (1994), the picture of mental
processes that emerges from experimental psychology is one of multi-
ple, interacting systems with differing control processes corresponding
to different levels of organization and integration. They argued that
hypnosis (at least for high susceptibles) involves releasing lower-level
cognitive systems from the organization and control of higher-level
Manuscript submitted September 3, 2002; final revision received December 5, 2003.
1
The authors are indebted to Adrian Burgess, Jenny Burt, Peter Grimbeek, and David
Vernon for both their practical assistance and insightful comments on earlier drafts. The
first author was supported during this research by an Australian Commonwealth
Postgraduate Research scholarship.
2
Address correspondence to Graham Jamieson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology,
University of Queensland, Qld 4072, Australia. E-mail: graham_jamieson@hotmail.com
10.1080/0020714049052349$16.00
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The
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
232
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