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Brain Advance Access published online on July 1, 2004
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awh196
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Received December 7, 2003
Revised March 17, 2004
Accepted March 19, 2004

Article

Increased anterior corpus callosum size associated positively with hypnotizability and the ability to control pain

James E. Horton 1*, Helen J. Crawford 2, Gregory Harrington 3, J. Hunter Downs III4

1 Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Virginia's College at Wise, Wise, VA, USA; Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
2 Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA
3 Department of Radiology, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA
4 Department of Psychiatric Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jhorton{at}uvawise.edu.


  Abstract

Summary 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 exposedto 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.

Keywords: attention; corpus callosum; hypnotic analgesia; pain; rostrum.
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