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AN
ELECTROPEIYSIOLOGICAL
THEORY
OF
HYPNOSIS
DONALD
R.
ROBERTS,
PH.D.
Introduction
In
this
paper is presented
a
construct of neuronal events
to
parallel
neurophysiologicalIythe behavioral symptoms of hypnosis. Such
an
at-
tempt to bridge
a
gap between neurology and psychology
is
possible at
the present time owing
to
the substantial advances in
our
understanding
of how the brain works which have been made in recent years by neuro-
physiologists using electrographic methods of research. Structures
of
immense significance for our understanding of brain function have been
uncovered, the chief of which are the Muse projection, the reticular
activating formation, the thalamic reticular formation, and the cortico-
reticular projections. The main processes of consciousnesswould appear
to
depend
on
the action and interaction of these systems (and possibly
others still undefined).
The difKculty encountered
in
applying the present knowledge of
brain structures and function to psychology is caused not only by the
confusion of opinion regarding what
is
known,
but by the fact that the
simplest event in consciousness becomes enormously complex when the
activity
of
neurons
is
investigated.
This
complexity can perhaps be re-
solved into order through understanding
of
the more general functioning
of the brain, and the neuronal correlates of the end-effects described by
psychology are more likely to be found
in
the action and interaction of
systems
than in the activity of single structures Iike the neuron or the
individual nerve pathway. Here the study of
a
relatively simple distor-
tion of consciousness like hypnosis can be valuable.
Hypnosis involves the manipulation of the attentive process: the cap-
ture, focussing, and partial suppression of
this
process. Although neuro-
physiologists have studied the mechanisms
of
attention under various
names-behavioral
arousal,
arrest reaction, adaptation, habituation,
orientation reflex, internal inhibition,-they have
been
less inclined
than psychologists
to
accept
attention as
a
primary
component of con-
sciousness.The suggestions
on
behavioral
arousal
and other mechanisms
of attention made later in
this
paper are therefore both
a
synthesis and
an
extrapolation
of
current views.
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