A neurophenomenological fMRI study of a spontaneous automatic writer and a hypnotic cohort.

Summary

Automatic writing, whether spontaneous or hypnotically induced, reduces the sense of control and agency and is associated with decreased brain activity in regions linked to agency (premotor cortex, insula, supplemental motor area) and increased activity in temporoparietal junctions and occipital lobes. A spontaneous automatic writer and four highly hypnotizable individuals showed similar subjective effects but partly different brain activation patterns during automatic writing compared to copying symbols.

Study at a glance

Abstract

To evaluate the neurophenomenology of automatic writing (AW) in a spontaneous automatic writer (NN) and four high hypnotizables (HH). During fMRI, NN and the HH were cued to perform spontaneous (NN) or induced (HH) AW, and a comparison task of copying complex symbols, and to rate their experience of control and agency. Compared to copying, for all participants AW was associated with less sense of control and agency and decreased BOLD signal responses in brain regions implicated in the sense of agency (left premotor cortex and insula, right premotor cortex, and supplemental motor area), and increased BOLD signal responses in the left and right temporoparietal junctions and the occipital lobes. During AW, the HH differed from NN in widespread BOLD decreases across the brain and increases in frontal and parietal regions. Spontaneous and induced AW had similar effects on agency, but only partly overlapping effects on cortical activity.

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