Decoding hypnotic consciousness: neural and experiential insights into induced and ideomotor suggestions.
Neuroscience of consciousness January 1, 2026 Juliette Gélébart, Alexandre Fouré, Romain Quentin et al.
Hypnotic induction and ideomotor suggestions reorganize brain connectivity and subjective experience in distinct ways. Using EEG, cardiorespiratory monitoring, and first-person reports, the study tracked changes across resting baseline, hypnotic induction, and an ideomotor challenge (suggested arm rigidity versus voluntary simulation). Induction produced gradual parieto-occipital alpha suppression, increased theta activity, enhanced frontoparietal theta connectivity, and reduced parasympathetic cardiac modulation, indicating active top-down network reorganization. During the ideomotor challenge, participants fell into two behavioral groups—tremblers and non-tremblers—despite both reporting disrupted agency. Tremblers showed increased frontoparietal gamma and reduced delta connectivity, consistent with enhanced sensorimotor prediction error signaling under motor conflict. The findings support predictive coding and dissociation accounts of agency disruption.