Brain Advance Access originally published online on July 1, 2004
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Brain, Vol. 127, No. 8, 1741-1747,
August 2004
© 2004 Guarantors of Brain
doi: 10.1093/brain/awh196
Increased anterior corpus callosum size associated positively with hypnotizability and the ability to control pain
1 Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Virginia's College at Wise, Wise, 2 Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 3 Department of Radiology, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA and 4 Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Correspondence to: James E. Horton, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Virginia's College at Wise, 1 College Avenue, Wise, VA 24293-4412, USA E-mail: jhorton{at}uvawise.edu or hjc{at}vt.edu
This is the first MRI study to report differences in brain structure size between low and highly hypnotizable, healthy, right-handed young adults. Participants were stringently screened for hypnotic susceptibility with two standardized scales, and then exposed to hypnotic analgesia training to control cold pressor pain. Only the highly hypnotizable subjects (HHs) who eliminated pain perception were included in the present study. These HHs, who demonstrated more effective attentional and inhibitory capabilities, had a significantly (P < 0.003) larger (31.8%) rostrum, a corpus callosum area involved in the allocation of attention and transfer of information between prefrontal cortices, than low hypnotizable subjects (LHs). These results provide support to the neuropsychophysiological model that HHs have more effective frontal attentional systems implementing control, monitoring performance and inhibiting unwanted stimuli from conscious awareness, than LHs.
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