Granone’s Plastic Monoideism Demonstrated by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Abstract

Plastic monoideism is the supposed basis of hypnosis, but has never been experimentally demonstrated. The aim of the paper presented herein is to demonstrate that plastic monoideism exists and can be put in evidence by functional magnetic resonance (fMRI). To this aim, fMRI brain areas activation was examined in 20 highly hypnotizable young participants during a task represented by hypnotic analgesia. Inhibition of pain transmission from periphery to brain cortex was demonstrated during hypnotic analgesia by lack of activation of central somatosensory areas. At the same time, the Brodmann areas 9, 25, 32 and 47 were highly activated. This indicates that during a hypnotic task the iper-activity of certain brain areas inhibits the other ones. This is just, for the neurobiologist, what plastic monoideism is for the clinic hypnotist. The hyper-activated areas represent the physiological basis of the monoideism, which was therefore confirmed by brain imaging.