Effects of weight-related literal and metaphorical suggestions about the forearms during hypnosis.

ABSTRACT

During hypnosis, the authors tested repeated weight-related, literal and metaphorical suggestions about the heaviness of the subjects' arms. The purpose was to determine if linguistically varied hypnotic suggestions produced significantly different motor reactions--involuntary pressure forces of the forearms--as assessed by a linguistic biomechanical system. Classic, literal (L) suggestions such as "your right arm is heavy" were used, as well as metaphorical (M) suggestions, such as "your right arm is made of lead." A specific effect on the progressive increase of pressure forces only in the temporal sequence L-M for each forearm (literal suggestions followed by metaphorical suggestions) was found. This effect, termed crescendo image metaphor effect, conceptualized within context-limited simulation theory, explains the findings.