Evidence for the Existence of a Hypnotic State

Eyes in the normal waking state (top) and under hypnosis (bottom). 

 

(Credit: Image courtesy of Suomen Akatemia (Academy of Finland)
A recent study made by a group of researchers from  Finland (University of Turku and Aalto University) and Sweden (University of Skövde) reveal the importance of 'glazed eyes' in a hypnotic state.They claim to have found the first evidence of the existence of a conscious state in humans.The study suggests that the glazed eyes are not just a mental imagery that takes place during normal wakening state but it has infact, much deeper meanings in terms of psychology and cognitive neuroscience.

"The researchers used high-resolution eye-tracking methodology and presented a set of well-established oculomotor tasks that trigger automatic eye behavior. They found the glazed stare was accompanied by objectively measurable changes in automatic, reflexive eye behavior that could not be imitated by non-hypnotized participants." , reports Science Daily.The person studied was a highly hypnotizable one, who  would just get hypnotized and dehypnotized by a single word cue.

Uptil this research, a hypnotic state had never been scientifically proven and researchers had considered it just a psychology myth.