evidence for or against this belief. Barry et al. ( 14 ) have made a study of suggestibility to postural sway suggestions in the "normal state," the "relaxed state," and in the "daydream state." They found evidence that these three states have some influence on suggestibility, the daydream and relaxed states being most alike in this respect and the waking and relaxed states the least alike. Unfortunately they do not report in what direction these influences were, so that the above belief remains unsubstantiated. To terminate this discussion, we might mention a number of reports concerning the influence of hyperventilation on suggestibility. Cohen and Cobb ( 72 ) found some indication that hyperventilation increases susceptibility to hypnosis. This had been suggested at an earlier date by Stockert ( 430 ). Sargant and Fraser ( 389 ) reported the same for neurotic individuals. This was confirmed by Talbot et al. ( 438 ) and by Seeligmuller ( 408 ). Since hyperventilation leads to alkalosis, it can be considered in this respect as a pharmacodynamical agent. How this influence comes about is still to be determined. It should be noted that the above holds primarily for hypnosis, or rather its induction, and can be said to apply to waking suggestibility only indirectly through the latter. Summary and Conclusions It may be well to summarize briefly the main results examined in this chapter, inasmuch as the numerous facets of the problem of heightened suggestibility tend to be confusing. In general, it has been seen that primary suggestibility can be increased through homoaction, that is, through the repetition of the same suggestion, provided the subject responds to some extent, however small, to the first statement of the suggestion. This appears to be a consequence of the fact that response to a suggestion tends to facilitate response to a repetition of this suggestion. This facilitation persists over a period of time, although it gradually decays. When repeated similar suggestions are given with sufficient rapidity, the suggestibility for the same progres- sively increases, eventually attaining a limiting value. The trend that this increase follows is similar to that followed by habituation. This homoaction is found to be the same in properties and magnitude in both waking and hypnosis. Furthermore, homoaction produced in one state tends to persevere into the other. Although homoaction is also found in secondary and tertiary suggestibility, its properties are less well defined, and its magnitude is definitely smaller. Except in con- -54- |