The Relation of Imagery Vividness, Absorption, Reality Boundaries and Synesthesia to Hypnotic States and Traits

A. Binet and C. Fere suggested that vividness of imagery was related to hypnotic responding, particularly hypnotic hallucinating. This chapter presents four dispositional abilities or traits related to imaginative involvement: vividness of visual images; absorption; thinness of boundaries, particularly the boundary between imaging and perceiving; and synesthesia. The chapter explores both their relationships to each other, as they pertain to hypnotic susceptibility and their possible operation during hypnosis itself, especially concerning the suspension of reality testing. Image vividness and absorption have received considerable attention in the hypnotic literature. Speculation regarding the relationship of synesthesia to hypnosis has been offered in the past but, heretofore, never systematically explored. Higher hypnotic susceptibility was associated with thinner boundaries and with fewer hours of sleep. The hypnotic attenuation of the emotional-visual boundary was statistically associated with hypnotic attenuation of the boundary between audible sensations and visual sensations as well.