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Biomedical subjects

H S Zamansky

Publications and source records attributed to H S Zamansky.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

The experience of effortlessness in hypnosis: perceived or real?

Hypnotized individuals who successfully respond to a suggestion typically report that the response requires little or no cognitive effort. It is important, however, to distinguish between whether this effect occurs in actual effort or is only perceived. In addition, the authors distinguish between cognitive effort expended to initiate a response and that required to maintain it. The authors examine the different predictions of four theories-compliance theory, sociocognitive theory (Lynn & Rhue, 1991), Hilgard's (1986) neodissociation theory, and Bowers's (1992) theory of dissociated control-regarding both of these distinctions. Experimental evidence bearing on the various predictions is examined. Additionally, the authors propose a number of design modifications that may help sort out the variables contributing to the effortlessness of the hypnotic response.

Humans↗
PubMed1996

Hypnotic amnesia and learning: a dissociation interpretation.

The effect of hypnotically induced amnesia on positive transfer learning was examined within the conceptual framework of dissociation theory. An Experimental group learned two paired-associates word lists that contained highly similar (between the two lists) stimulus words. After learning the first list, subjects were given suggestions for amnesia for that list. Control group 1 learned the same two lists without amnesia suggestions. Control group 2, with amnesia suggestions following the first list, learned two lists that contained dissimilar stimulus words. All subjects remained hypnotized throughout the session. Positive transfer between the two lists was demonstrated for the Experimental group and for Control group 1, but not for Control group 2. The results are viewed as consistent with predictions from dissociation theory.

Amnesia↗
PubMed1995

Making hypnosis happen: the involuntariness of the hypnotic experience.

The authors tested the hypothesis that hypnotized individuals do not truly experience their responses to suggestions as occurring involuntarily, but instead absorb themselves in imagery that is congruent with the suggestions while avoiding critical thoughts, or even simply comply with suggestions without genuinely experiencing their responses as nonvolitional. Participants were instructed to engage in thoughts and imagery that conflicted with the suggestions given, were urged to pay attention to their behavior, and were questioned regarding the perceived involuntariness of their responses. Simultaneously, electrodermal skin conductance responses provided a measure of the truthfulness of their reports. It was found that responses to all hypnotic suggestions were reported as being involuntary, in spite of the conflicting imagery and increased saliency, and that these reports were truthful. These findings provide disconfirming evidence for the sociocognitive theories of hypnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Is the hypnotized subject lying?

Do the verbal reports of deeply hypnotized Ss truthfully reflect their subjective experiences of hypnotic suggestions? Experiment 1 established that the electrodermal skin conductance response (SCR) provides an effective method for detecting deception in the laboratory equally well in hypnotized and nonhypnotized Ss. In Experiment 2, deeply hypnotized and simulating Ss were administered a number of hypnotic suggestions in a typical hypnotic session, without mention of deception, and were questioned about their experiences while SCR measures were recorded concurrently. Results indicate that 89% of the hypnotized Ss' reports met the criterion for truthfulness, whereas only 35% of the simulators' reports met this criterion. Implications for the theory of hypnosis are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Cognitive strategies in hypnosis: toward resolving the hypnotic conflict.

2 experiments were carried out to assess the relative contributions of dissociation and absorption as cognitive strategies employed by high and low hypnotizable Ss in responding successfully to hypnotic suggestions. Of special interest was the manner in which Ss deal with conflicting information typically inherent in hypnotic suggestions. In the first experiment, Ss rated their attentional focus and the involuntariness of their experience after responding to a number of hypnotic suggestions administered in the usual manner. In the second experiment, the level of conflict was varied by instructing some Ss to imagine a circumstance that was congruent and other Ss to imagine a circumstance that was incongruent with the suggested behavioral response. The results of the 2 experiments were consistent in suggesting that, depending upon the nature of the hypnotic suggestion, high hypnotizable Ss are able to employ dissociation or absorption in order to respond successfully. Low hypnotizable Ss, on the other hand, seem to be relatively ineffective dissociators. When the structure of the hypnotic suggestion precludes the use of absorption, the performance of low hypnotizables deteriorates.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Effects of texture on visual noise masking.

Visual noise masks, composed of letter fragments scattered randomly over the visual field, disrupt the recognition of briefly viewed words when presented immediately before and/or after these words. According to the widely held feature-similarity assumption, maximal disruption is predicted when the mask's letter fragments are equal in size and shape to the target letters. This assumption is not supported by the present experiment, which measured the masking effectiveness of visual noise patterns varying in texture (achieved by photographic reduction or enlargement). For target letters with stroke widths subtending 7.4' or less, the optimally disruptive mask did not vary with the stroke width of the target letters, but rather, was invariably composed of letter fragments with stroke widths subtending about 7'. For larger target words, however, this mask was not optimally disruptive. These results suggest that recognition of letters less that about 7' is mediated by a single size-tuned mechanism.

Discrimination, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

Word length and visual-noise texture in backward masking.

Visual-noise masks composed of randomly scattered letter fragments disrupt the recognition of briefly viewed letter arrays when the masks are presented immediately after these arrays. According to the feature-similarity assumption, maximal disruption should occur when the target letters and the letter fragments comprising the mask share a common stroke width. This assumption was disconfirmed in the present experiment. Two-, four-, and six-letter arrays, whose stroke width subtended a visual angle of 3-8', were viewed tachistoscopically in conjunction with visual-noise masks whose letter fragments subtended visual angles of 1-2', 1-9', 3-8', 6-6', or 9-7'. The most effective mask for all three letter-array lengths was the one composed of letter fragments subtending 6-6'. The results, together with those of previous experiments, are accounted for in terms of a neural line-detecting mechansim.

Analysis of Variance↗