A neurophenomenological fMRI study of a spontaneous automatic writer and a hypnotic cohort.
Brain and cognition August 1, 2023 Etzel Cardeña, Lena Lindström, Philippe Goldin et al. 4 citations
Automatic writing, whether occurring spontaneously or induced by hypnosis, reduces the sense of control and agency compared to copying symbols. In a functional MRI study of one spontaneous automatic writer and four highly hypnotizable individuals, automatic writing was associated with decreased brain activity in regions linked to the sense of agency, including the left premotor cortex and insula, right premotor cortex, and supplemental motor area. Increased activity was observed in the left and right temporoparietal junctions and occipital lobes. The highly hypnotizable individuals showed widespread decreases in brain activity and increases in frontal and parietal regions compared to the spontaneous writer. Spontaneous and induced automatic writing had similar effects on the subjective experience of agency but only partly overlapping effects on cortical activity.