SLEEP-INDUCED BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE

Abstract

Nineteen Ss slept for 2 nights in the laboratory. Verbal suggestions were administered to the Ss while they were in stage 1 sleep (defined by conservative electroencephalographic criteria). A cue word presented during alpha-free stage 1 sleep was sometimes sufficient to elicit the suggested response without awakening the S, even when a temporal delay existed between the suggestion and the cue word. For example, the cue word could be repeated in the same stage 1 period as the suggestion (immediate), or during a 2nd night without repetition of the suggestion (carry over). With the latter, the S had no waking memory for the procedures of the previous night. Susceptibility to hypnosis was assessed after all Ss had completed the sleep sessions. A complex relationship was found among the frequency of sleep-induced response, susceptibility to hypnosis, and how well the S slept. Insusceptible Ss were less likely to respond while asleep and had less opportunity to respond because they awakened when cue words were presented. They had also reported that they were poor sleepers outside of the laboratory situation. Response to sleep-induced suggestions was not correlated with waking motor suggestion, nor with hypnotic passive and challenge suggestion. Rather, sleep response rate was significantly related to hallucinatory and posthypnotic clusters of hypnotic behavior (which can be experienced only by deeply hypnotized Ss), particularly with responses obtained when there was temporal dissociation between the suggestion and the cue word. Thus, the multiple correlation predicting the carry over response frequency during sleep, using S's subjective sleep patterns and either the hallucinatory or posthypnotic clusters as predictors, was .62 and .68, respectively. The relationship between sleep-induced behavior and hypnosis docs not seem to imply any similarity or interchange-ability of hypnotic and sleep states.