Abstract #4169

fMRI Investigation of Voluntary & Involuntary Motor Activation in Hypnotic Paralysis

Harald Kugel¹, Markus Burgmer², Bettina Pfleiderer¹, Adrianna Ewert¹, Thomas Lenzen³, Regina Pioch², Martin Pyka⁴, Jens Sommer⁴, Volker Arolt³, Gereon Heuft², Carsten Konrad⁴

¹Dept. of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; ²Dept. of Psychosomatics & Psychotherapy, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; ³Dept. of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, University of Muenster, Muenster, NRW, Germany; ⁴Dept. of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, University Marburg, Marburg, HE, Germany

The neurobiological basis of nonorganic movement impairments is still unknown. As conversion disorder and hypnotic states share many characteristics, we applied an experimental design established in conversion disorder to investigate hypnotic paralysis. In nineteen healthy subjects movement imitation and observation were investigated by fMRI with and without hypnotically induced paralysis of their left hand. Hypnotic paralysis during movement imitation induced hypoactivation of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex and ipsilateral cerebellum, indicating a specific impact of hypnosis on executive control.