Nature Communications
September 25, 2020
Peter Lush, Vanessa Botan, R. B. Y. Scott et al.
136 citations
Hypnotisability—a normally distributed, stable trait—predicts experiential changes like hallucinations in response to imaginative suggestion, which feel involuntary. Such experiences can also be triggered by implicit suggestion outside hypnosis. In three large samples (156, 404, and 353 participants), substantial relationships were found between hypnotisability and experiential change in mirror-sensory synaesthesia and the rubber hand illusion, comparable to relationships with individual hypnosis scale items. The control of phenomenology to meet expectancies from perceived task requirements may explain experiential change in psychological experiments.
Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice
June 25, 2020
Zoltan Dienes, Peter Lush, Bence Pálfi et al.
42 citations
Hypnotizability reflects a broader trait called phenomenological control, which allows people to create subjective experiences in nonhypnotic contexts to fulfill goals. This control operates as a metacognitive process where intentional actions occur without awareness of specific intentions, known as cold control. Laboratory phenomena such as vicarious pain, mirror-touch synesthesia, and the rubber hand illusion may partly result from phenomenological control. A new theory of intentional binding measures the absence of conscious intentions in hypnosis. No evidence suggests cold control confers abilities beyond changes in metacognitive monitoring, and a negative correlation exists between mindfulness and cold control, viewed as a lack of awareness of intentions.
Collabra Psychology
January 1, 2021
Peter Lush, R. B. Y. Scott, Anil K. Seth et al.
35 citations
Phenomenological control—the ability to generate experiences to match expectancies—varies as a stable trait and can be measured through responses to imaginative suggestions such as paralysis, amnesia, or hallucinations. While traditionally studied within hypnosis, the context of hypnosis itself may distort scores due to misconceptions. The Phenomenological Control Scale (PCS), adapted from the Sussex Waterloo Scale of Hypnotizability but without hypnotic framing, yields higher mean scores and similar reliability on its subjective scale. The PCS is thus a valid tool for assessing trait phenomenological control outside the hypnotic context, suitable for broader psychological experiments.