[Hypnotists use a variety of preliminary suggestibility tests that are non-invasive and simple to administer. Many of these methods "test" a client's ability to visualize. Please visit my site Monroe Hypnosis to schedule a free consultation at our Pittsford, NY office.]
Physiologically stated, scientists at Stanford discovered that " Hypnosis works by modulating activity in brain regions associated with focused attention", specifically, "highly hypnotizable participants showed greater co-activation between components of the executive-control network and the salience network. More specifically, in the brains of the highly hypnotizable group the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an executive-control region of the brain, appeared to be activated in tandem with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, which is part of the salience network and plays a role in focusing of attention. By contrast, there was little functional connectivity between these two areas of the brain in those with low hypnotizability". - See more at: Stanford School of Medicine
As a former school teacher, I spent a lot of time reading studies of brain development in children and adults. Specifically, I studied the physical development of the brain as it relates to education and behavior. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is a functional area that helps short term memory (Oxford Journal) and the dorsal anterior cingulate is an area of the brain that is activated with reward-based decision making (National Academy of Sciences). These theories and the study by Stanford reinforce the National Association of Hypnotists' statement on the ability of people to be hypnotized.
