Hypnotic analgesia: A preliminary investigation of quantitated hemispheric electroencephalographic and attentional correlates

The effects of hypnotically induced analgesia were studied in 6 undergraduate Ss rated as moderately hypnotizable and 5 Ss rated as highly hypnotizable. Subjective pain reports and EEG activation were recorded during 1-min periods of cold-pressor stimulation. Both groups reported decreased pain during hypnosis, but the decrease was greater for the highly hypnotizable group. During hypnotic analgesia, immersion of either the right or the left hand in ice water was correlated with contralateral EEG activation for moderately hypnotizable but not for highly hypnotizable Ss. Lack of contralateral shift was correlated for the whole sample and within groups with success on an attentional task related by previous research to hypnotizability as well as with reports of reduced pain. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).