Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-10-2020
Abstract
Suggestions can cause some individuals to miss or disregard existing visual stimuli, but can they infuse sensory input with nonexistent information? Although several prominent theories of hypnotic suggestion propose that mental imagery can change our perceptual experience, data to support this stance remain sparse. The present study addressed this lacuna, showing how suggesting the presence of physically absent, yet critical, visual information transforms an otherwise difficult task into an easy one. Here, we show how adult participants who are highly susceptible to hypnotic suggestion successfully hallucinated visual occluders on top of moving objects. Our findings support the idea that, at least in some people, suggestions can add perceptual information to sensory input. This observation adds meaningful weight to theoretical, clinical, and applied aspects of the brain and psychological sciences.
Recommended Citation
Landry, M., Da Silva Castanheira, J., Sackur, J., & Raz, A. (2021). Difficult turned easy: Suggestion renders a challenging visual task simple. Psychological Science, 32(1), 39–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620954856
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
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Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Psychological Science, volume 32, issue 1, in 2021 following peer review. This article may not exactly replicate the final published version. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620954856.
The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.