The present study examined the relation between various self-report measures and two measures of hypnotizability within a multivariate framework. A group of 748 participants was tested on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A (HGSHS:A), the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), as well as the Preference for an Imagic Cognitive Style (PICS) questionnaire. One hundred ninety of these participants also completed the Paranormal Experiences Questionnaire (PEQ). Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression equations, and the results of the analyses indicated that both the TAS and PICS accounted for significant amounts of unique variance in each of two 373-member samples of HGSHS:A scores. A further sub-sample of participants (n = 161) was tested on the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSS:C) to see if these results would generalize to another measure of hypnotizability. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that although the PEQ predicted significant amounts of unique SHSS:C variance over and above that predicted by the TAS, the PICS failed to do so. This inconsistency in results may be due in part to the generally low intercorrelation between the different hypnotizability scales and points to the need to develop new predictor variables that are orthogonal to each other.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn. 1996 Jul;44(3):250-64. Dixon M, Labelle L, Laurence JR. Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Language and music share a number of characteristics. Crucially, both domains depend on both rules and memorized representations. Double dissociations between the neurocognition of rule-governed and memory-based knowledge have been found in language but not music. Here, the neural bases of both of these aspects of music were examined with an event-related potential (ERP) study of note violations in melodies. Rule-only violations consisted of out-of-key deviant notes that violated tonal harmony rules in novel (unfamiliar) melodies. Memory-only violations consisted of in-key deviant notes in familiar well-known melodies; these notes followed musical rules but deviated from the actual melodies. Finally, out-of-key notes in familiar well-known melodies constituted violations of both rules and memory. All three conditions were presented, within-subjects, to healthy young adults, half musicians and half non-musicians. The results revealed a double dissociation, independent of musical training, between rules and memory: both rule violation conditions, but not the memory-only violations, elicited an early, somewhat right-lateralized anterior-central negativity (ERAN), consistent with previous studies of rule violations in music, and analogous to the early left-lateralized anterior negativities elicited by rule violations in language. In contrast, both memory violation conditions, but not the rule-only violation, elicited a posterior negativity that might be characterized as an N400, an ERP component that depends, at least in part, on the processing of representations stored in long-term memory, both in language and in other domains. The results suggest that the neurocognitive rule/memory dissociation extends from language to music, further strengthening the similarities between the two domains.

Neuroimage. 2007 Nov 1;38(2):331-45. Miranda RA, Ullman MT. Brain and Language Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, New Research Building, 3970 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC 20057, USA; Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University, USA.