Using hypnotic suggestion to model loss of control and awareness of movements: an exploratory FMRI study.
PloS one January 1, 2013 Quinton Deeley, Eamonn Walsh, David A Oakley et al. 48 citations
Voluntary control and awareness of movement are central to selfhood and responsibility, yet can be lost in neuropsychiatric syndromes and dissociative states like spirit possession. Using suggestion and fMRI in 15 highly hypnotically suggestible subjects, loss of perceived control of movements was linked to reduced connectivity between the supplementary motor area (SMA) and motor regions. Reduced awareness of involuntary movements corresponded with less activation in parietal cortices and insula. These results suggest the sense of voluntary control may critically depend on SMA coupling with motor systems, offering a neural basis for narrowed awareness in pathological and culturally influenced dissociative phenomena.