Erik Z. Woody

Adaptation to potential threat: The evolution, neurobiology, and psychopathology of the security motivation system

The risk of improbable, uncertain, but grave potential dangers poses unique adaptive challenges. We argue that to manage such risks, a special motivational system evolved, which we term the security motivation system. Review of work across a range of species indicates that this system is designed to detect subtle indicators of potential threat, to probe the environment for further information about these possible dangers, and to motivate engagement in precautionary behaviors, which also serves to terminate security motivation. We advance a neurobiological-circuit model of the security motivation system, which consists of a cascade of cortico-striato-pallido-thalamo-cortical loops with brainstem-mediated negative feedback. We also detail the broader physiological network involved, including regulation of the parasympathetic nervous system, with emphasis on vagal regulation of cardiac output, and activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Finally, we propose that some kinds of psychopathology stem from dysfunction of the security motivation system. In particular, obsessive compulsive disorder may result from the failure of a mechanism by which engagement in precautionary behavior normally terminates activation of the system.

Multiple Hypnotizabilities: Differentiating the Building Blocks of Hypnotic Response.

Although hypnotizability can be conceptualized as involving component subskills, standard measures do not differentiate them from a more general unitary trait, partly because the measures include limited sets of dichotomous items. To overcome this, the authors applied full-information factor analysis, a sophisticated analytic approach for dichotomous items, to a large data set from 2 hypnotizability scales. This analysis yielded 4 subscales (Direct Motor, Motor Challenge, Perceptual-Cognitive, Posthypnotic Amnesia) that point to the building blocks of hypnotic response. The authors then used the subscales as simultaneous predictors of hypnotic responses in 4 experiments to distinguish the contribution of each component from general hypnotizability. This analysis raises interesting questions about how best to conceptualize and advance measurement of the ability to experience hypnosis.

When too much is not enough: obsessive-compulsive disorder as a pathology of stopping, rather than starting.

Background In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), individuals feel compelled to repeatedly perform security-related behaviors, even though these behaviours seem excessive and unwarranted to them. The present research investigated two alternative ways of explaining such behavior: (1) a dysfunction of activation—a starting problem—in which the level of excitation in response to stimuli suggesting potential danger is abnormally strong; versus (2) a dysfunction of termination—a stopping problem—in which the satiety-like process for shutting down security-related thoughts and actions is abnormally weak. Method In two experiments, 70 patients with OCD (57 with washing compulsions, 13 with checking compulsions) and 72 controls were exposed to contamination cues—immersing a hand in wet diapers —and later allowed to wash their hands, first limited to 30 s and then for as long as desired. The intensity of activation of security motivation was measured objectively by change in respiratory sinus arrythmia. Subjective ratings (e.g., contamination) and behavioral measures (e.g., duration of hand washing) were also collected. Results Compared to controls, OCD patients with washing compulsions did not differ significantly in their levels of initial activation to the threat of contamination; however, they were significantly less able to reduce this activation by engaging in the corrective behavior of hand-washing. Further, the deactivating effect of hand-washing in OCD patients with checking compulsions was similar to that for controls, indicating that the dysfunction of termination in OCD is specific to the patients symptom profile. Conclusions These results are the first to show that OCD is characterized by a reduced ability of security-related behavior to terminate motivation evoked by potential danger, rather than a heightened initial sensitivity to potential threat. They lend support to the security-motivation theory of OCD (Szechtman & Woody, 2004) and have important implications both for research into the biological mechanisms underlying OCD and for the development of new treatment approaches.

Hypnosis, Memory, And Frontal Executive Functioning

According to the dissociated-control hypothesis forwarded by Woody and Bowers (1994), the effects of hypnosis are consistent with attenuated frontal lobe functioning. The present study was designed to compare the performance of participants with high and low hypnotic ability on a variety of memory tasks thought to be sensitive to frontal lobe functioning, as well as some control memory tasks not considered to be sensitive to such functioning. Results generally indicated that participants with high hypnotic ability have more difficulty with tasks sensitive to frontal lobe functioning, including free recall, proactive interference, and source amnesia tasks, both within and outside of the context of hypnosis. These differences, which were not found for nonfrontal tasks, are generally supportive of the dissociated control theory of hypnotic responding.

DISSOCIATION IN HYPNOSIS AND FRONTAL EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

In a career of many searching conceptual insights, Kenneth Bowers drew an important distinction between 2 different dissociative theories of hypnosis: dissociated experience and dissociated control. We contrast these 2 views and discuss how a dissociated control theory can be integrated with current conceptions of frontal executive function. Then we use this frontal elaboration of the dissociated control theory to sketch out a provisional understanding of memory function associated with hypnosis and hypnotic suggestibility, with particular emphasis on unsuggested effects.

The psychology of potential threat: Properties of the security motivation system

Results of three experiments support hypothesized properties of the security motivation system, a special motivational system for handling potential threats, as proposed by Szechtman and Woody (2004). First, mild stimuli suggesting potential harm produced a marked state of activation (evident in both objective and subjective measures), consistent with the hypothesis that the security motivation system is finely tuned for the detection of potential threat. Second, in the absence of corrective behavior, this evoked activation is persistent, supporting the hypothesis that once stimulated, the security motivation system produces an enduring motivational state involving the urge to engage in threat-reducing behavior. Third, engagement in corrective behavior was effective in returning activation levels to baseline, whereas cognitive reappraisal was not. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that deactivation of the security motivation system depends on performance of security-related behaviors, rather than non-behavioral events such as cognitive re-evaluation of threat.

What we don’t know about the Brain and Hypnosis, but need to: A View from the Buckhorn Inn

Based on reflections on the University of Tennessee Conference on Brain Imaging and Hypnosis, the authors point the field of hypnosis toward a new generation of research that can successfully coordinate multiple methods of inquiry and effectively connect psychological with biological understanding. They examine issues concerning hypnosis as a state, hypnotic susceptibility as a trait, and the psychological processes that underlie hypnotic responses. The article indicates ways in which some old questions can, and need to, be asked in new ways. The authors illustrate how to move toward a neuropsychological understanding of hypnosis by describing the classic suggestion effect and consider candidate psychological mechanisms to explain this effect. They argue that the neuroscience of hypnosis needs to build on a sound psychological foundation and add to, rather than replace, existing levels of analysis.

Hypnotic amnesia and the paradox of intentional forgetting

Hypnotic amnesia is often interpreted as a deliberate effort to avoid thinking of ideas or thoughts targeted for amnesia. However, as D.M. Wegner (1989) showed, nonhypnotized individuals who deliberately attempt to suppress certain thoughts or images paradoxically suffer intrusions of the prescribed material. The authors replicated Wegners findings in 2 separate investigations. However, they also found that hypnotic amnesia did not have such paradoxical effects. Indeed, the great majority of high-hypnotizable individuals administered suggestions for amnesia showed no such intrusions whatsoever, indicating that thought suppression and hypnotic amnesia represent quite different processes.

On reintegrating dissociated theories : Comment on Kirsch and Lynn (1998)

In response to I. Kirsch and S.J. Lynns (1998) review of dissociation theories of hypnosis, the authors discuss the role of theory in current hypnosis research. In addition, they show how the 2 dissociation theories, as well as an alternative sociocognitive theory, can be integrated into a dual-system model of action (D.A. Norman & T. Shallice, 1986). Finally, they argue that the essence of dissociation theory does not necessarily rely on special mechanisms, such as the amnesic barrier and hidden observer, which Kirsch and Lynn critiqued.

Induction of compulsive-like washing by blocking the feeling of knowing: an experimental test of the security-motivation hypothesis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

BackgroundH. Szechtman and E. Woody (2004) hypothesized that obsessive-compulsive disorder results from a deficit in the feeling of knowing that normally terminates thoughts or actions elicited by security motivation. To test the plausibility of this proposed mechanism, an experiment was conducted to produce an analog of washing in obsessive-compulsive disorder by eliciting a scenario of potential harm and using hypnosis to block changes in internally generated feelings that would normally occur during washing.ResultsParticipants reacted with increased disgust, anxiety, and heart rate to their mental images of contamination and potential danger. As predicted, high but not low hypnotizable participants showed a significant prolongation of washing when change in feelings during washing was blocked hypnotically.ConclusionResults show that blocking the affective signal that is normally generated during security-related behaviors, such as washing, leads to prolonged performance of these behaviors. This finding lends support to the plausibility of the proposed model of obsessive-compulsive disorder.