title: Hypnosis phenomenology and the neurobiology of consciousness.
abstract: Recent developments in the philosophical and neurobiological studies of consciousness provide promising frameworks to investigate the neurobiology of hypnosis. A model of consciousness phenomenology is described to demonstrate that the experiential dimensions characterizing hypnosis (relaxation and mental ease, absorption, orientation and monitoring, and self-agency) reflect basic phenomenal properties of consciousness. Changes in relaxation-mental ease and absorption, produced by standard hypnotic procedures, are further associated with changes in brain activity within structures critically involved in the basic representation of the body-self and the regulation of states of consciousness. The combination of experiential and modern brain imaging methods offers a unique perspective on hypnotic phenomena and provides new observations consistent with the proposition that hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness.
authors.affiliation: Département de Stomatologie, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, University of Montréal, Québec, Centre-ville, Canada. pierre.rainville@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rainville
authors.forename: Donald D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis