Investigation on the Neural Mechanism of Hypnosis-Based Respiratory Control Using Functional MRI

Respiratory control is essential for treatment effect of radiotherapy due to the high dose, especially for thoracic-abdomen tumor, such as lung and liver tumors. As a noninvasive and comfortable way of respiratory control, hypnosis has been proven effective as a psychological technology in clinical therapy. In this study, the neural control mechanism of hypnosis for respiration was investigated by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Altered spontaneous brain activity as well as neural correlation of respiratory motion was detected for eight healthy subjects in normal state (NS) and hypnosis state (HS) guided by a hypnotist. Reduced respiratory amplitude was observed in HS (mean ± SD: 14.23 ± 3.40 mm in NS, 12.79 ± 2.49 mm in HS, p = 0.0350), with mean amplitude deduction of 9.2%. Interstate difierence of neural activity showed activations in the visual cortex and cerebellum, while deactivations in the prefrontal cortex and precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCu/PCC) in HS. Within these regions, negative correlations of neural activity and respiratory motion were observed in visual cortex in HS. Moreover, in HS, voxel-wise neural correlations of respiratory amplitude demonstrated positive correlations in cerebellum anterior lobe and insula, while negative correlations were shown in the prefrontal cortex and sensorimotor area. These findings reveal the involvement of cognitive, executive control, and sensorimotor processing in the control mechanisms of hypnosis for respiration, and shed new light on hypnosis performance in interaction of psychology, physiology, and cognitive neuroscience.