title: Using hypnotic suggestion to model loss of control and awareness of movements: an exploratory FMRI study.
abstract: The feeling of voluntary control and awareness of movement is fundamental to our notions of selfhood and responsibility for actions, yet can be lost in neuropsychiatric syndromes (e.g. delusions of control, non-epileptic seizures) and culturally influenced dissociative states (e.g. attributions of spirit possession). The brain processes involved remain poorly understood. We used suggestion and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate loss of control and awareness of right hand movements in 15 highly hypnotically suggestible subjects. Loss of perceived control of movements was associated with reduced connectivity between supplementary motor area (SMA) and motor regions. Reduced awareness of involuntary movements was associated with less activation in parietal cortices (BA 7, BA 40) and insula. Collectively these results suggest that the sense of voluntary control of movement may critically depend on the functional coupling of SMA with motor systems, and provide a potential neural basis for the narrowing of awareness reported in pathological and culturally influenced dissociative phenomena.
authors.affiliation: Cultural and Social Neuroscience Research Group, Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Quinton
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Deeley
authors.forename: Eamonn
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Oakley
authors.forename: Vaughan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koppel
authors.forename: Mitul A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Halligan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013404:Suggestion; D055815:Young Adult