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Abstract:
Our work (Crawford & Gruzelier, 1992; Crawford et al.,
1998, Kropotov et al., 1997) supports the proposal that the
successful inhibition of pain during hypnotic analgesia requires
active inhibitory processes. These processes are thought to operate
by reallocating thalamocortical activities so that pain does not
reach conscious awareness. We propose that highly hypnotizable
persons can better suppress pain because of their more effective
use of their frontal attentional system. The present study assessed
somatosensory event-related potential (SERP) differences at 29
scalp electrode sites to 40 noxious electrical stimuli (3 sec
apart) administered in counterbalanced order to the third digit of
the left and right hands during attend and hypnotic analgesia
conditions. Participants were healthy, right handed college
students who were either high (10) or low (10) in hypnotic
susceptibility level as assessed by standardized scales. During
hypnotic analgesia, the SERPs of highs were observed to exhibit
greater negativity (e.g., N250) and reduced positivity (e.g.,
P200). Underlying EEG differences that may contribute to highs
exhibiting faster SERP latencies for certain SERP components
(regardless of condition) than lows will be discussed.
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