Hallucinating Colors Can Be Done Consciously

A group of investigators at the University of Hull say that people who are susceptible to hypnosis are also more likely to hallucinate colors in situations where there are none. The team conducted a new series of experiments on the topic, which also included people less likely to be hypnotized.

Participants were asked to watch a series of black-and-white patterns, and then report whether they saw any colors in them. Some of the test subjects were hypnotized, whereas others were not. The first group included patients who are both more, or less, prone to being hypnotized.

Scientists at the University of Hull Department of Psychology report that individuals who were highly susceptible to being hypnotized were very likely to experience colors in the monochrome patterns, whereas people in the control group seldom saw any other color.

The team also used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to keep track of people's neural activation patterns. This helped them refine the results of their search even further, by noticing which areas of the brain lit up during the hallucinations.

At the same time, researchers were also looking for differences in activation patterns in the brains of both suggestible and non-suggestible test participants. It was found that the regions of the brain underlying visual perception were significantly changed exclusively in suggestible individuals.

“These are very talented people. They can change their perception and experience of the world in ways that the rest of us cannot,” lead study researcher, professor Giuliana Mazzoni, says of the suggestible individuals in the study group.

The new study is also interesting because hypnosis has also been shown to allow people to block pain and increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy. What the research implies is that hypnosis may not be actually necessary for these effects to occur.

In the experiments, people who were highly-susceptible to hypnosis were able to hallucinate seeing colors in the monochrome patterns even if they were not under hypnosis at the time they saw the patterns.

“Many people are afraid of hypnosis, although it appears to be very effective in helping with certain medical interventions, particularly pain control,” study contributor Dr. William McGeown explains.

“The work we have been doing shows that certain people may benefit from suggestion without the need for hypnosis,” he adds. Details of the work were published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Consciousness and Cognition, PsychCentral reports.