A new article from Trends in Cognitive Sciences explores how cognitive neuroscientists are becoming increasingly interested in understanding hypnosis and are using it to simulate unusual states of consciousness in the lab.
Hypnosis was typically treated with suspicion by mainstream cognitive science, although an important turning point came when a 2000 study demonstrated that people hypnotised to see colour on grey panels showed activity in the colour perception areas of the brain.
Myths about hypnosis are still common, but it is nothing more than a participant's willing engagement in a process of suggestion. The hypnotic induction, sterotypically the counting backwards and the 'you are feeling sleepy' patter, helps but is not necessary.
Crucially, and for reasons that are still unclear...
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