Abstract Mkid 62

Rather than attempt to uncover some simplistic unidimensional EEG "signature" of the hypnotic state, this study obtained EEG Event Related Potentials (ERPs) in response to suggestion only and an alert hypnotic induction plus the identical suggestion conditions. The suggestion asked the ten subjects to hallucinate having earplugs in their ears to attenuate a series of computer generated tone pips. Hypnotizability testing was completely separated in both time (6-9 months prior) and context from this research. Alert hypnosis (Barabasz, 1985; Barabasz & Barabasz, 1996) was used to preclude effects that might be wrought by relaxation. Only the hypnotizable but not the non hypnotizable subjects showed statistically significant attenuation of their EEG ERPs in response to the hypnotic induction plus suggestion condition in contrast to the identical suggestion alone. An independent post-experimental inquiry revealed that the one highly hypnotizable subject who responded in an equivalent manner to both conditions did spontaneously enter hypnosis in an effort to respond to the essence of the instructions. Consistent with previous research (Barabasz, Barabasz, Jensen, Calvin, Trevisan, & Warner, 1999; Barabasz & Lonsdale, 1983; Spiegel, Cutcomb, Ren, & Pribram, 1985), the data reveal that when responses are time locked to events, robust physiological markers of hypnosis emerge that reflect alterations in consciousness that correspond to subjects’ subjective experiences of perceptual alteration. These effects were not produced by suggestion alone but only by hypnosis in hypnotizable subjects.