title: Hypnosis meets neuropsychology: simulating visuospatial neglect in healthy participants.
abstract: Neglect patients are not aware of stimuli in the contralesional space. We aimed to simulate neglect-like behaviour in healthy participants, by asking them to orient their visuospatial attention in two conditions: non-hypnotic suggestion and post-hypnotic suggestion. Results showed that directing visuospatial attention to one side of space caused neglect of stimuli in the opposite side of space, but only when participants were under post-hypnotic suggestion. Furthermore, directing visuospatial attention to the right side of space caused more neglect of left-sided stimuli than directing visuospatial attention to the left side of space did for right-sided stimuli. We propose that post-hypnotic suggestion can be a useful tool for (de)activating neurocognitive mechanisms underlying visuospatial awareness, a function that is fundamental for our survival. The use of post-hypnotic suggestion could be applied to the study of many domains of cognitive neurosciences (e.g., neurocognitive rehabilitation).
authors: Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. konstantinos.priftis@unipd.it
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Priftis
authors: Sami
authors: S
authors: Schiff
authors: Valérie
authors: V
authors: Tikhonoff
authors: Nunzia
authors: N
authors: Giordano
authors: Piero
authors: P
authors: Amodio
authors: Carlo
authors: C
authors: Umiltà
authors: Edoardo
authors: E
authors: Casiglia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D030141:Feedback, Psychological; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006990:Hypnosis; D008297:Male; D009484:Neuropsychology; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult