Research Program / Claims / hypnosis-7
The hypnotic state is a level of awareness in which the personality operates freely, temporarily detached from ordinary physical reality.
催眠状态是一种觉知层次，在此状态下人格处于自由运转状态，暂时脱离通常意义上的物理现实。
Concept hypnosis · Domain Belief Dynamics and Mind–Body Regulation · ontological claim · interface 3/3 · testability 3/3 · status untested · ★ fundable
This program treats the Seth Material as a source of hypotheses, not as doctrine to be validated. Lead dossiers are AI-compiled from the corpus with a book-and-session citation after every statement; literature reviews are AI web-search summaries whose references were all DOI-verified against Crossref; the agenda draft is an AI synthesis. None of it is Seth's original text, and none of it represents scientific consensus. English fields are machine-translated; the Chinese text is authoritative.
Seth sources (book §session)
Adjudicating experiment
150 participants stratified by susceptibility receive hypnosis, rest, and matched guided imagery in a crossover design, completing two fMRI scans; pre-registered measures include default mode network internal connectivity, its connectivity with executive control network, and ratings of agency and reality detachment. Duration 12–18 months; additionally measures reality monitoring and external detection performance to avoid relying solely on self-report. This experiment can test the relationship between experience and network connectivity, but cannot adjudicate whether the personality leaves the body in a physical sense.
Suggested paper title
Default Mode Network Connectivity and Altered Agency During Hypnosis: A Pre-registered fMRI Study
What it would overturn
Default mode network changes do not overturn brain science; only independent proof that personality functions can persist without brain activity would challenge the hypothesis that "measurable cognitive functions of personality depend on brain activity."
Candidate labs / funders
David Spiegel，Stanford University，Center on Stress and Health; Peter Lush，University of Sussex，Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science; Zoltan Dienes，University of Sussex，Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science
Specificity of Seth's formulation
"Freely operating" does not specify behavioral indicators; if it merely refers to changes in self-awareness or agency, existing theories are more specific; if it refers to objective detachment from reality, direct evidence is lacking.
Note
Corresponds to supplementary question 3: Distinguish between default mode network activity level, internal connectivity, and cross-network connectivity; a decrease in one of these measures cannot be uniformly called "DMN shutdown."
Evidence (1, DOI-verified via Crossref)
Cite: Future Mind Institute, Seth Material Research Agenda, claim hypnosis-7, https://www.seth.org.cn/en/research/claims/hypnosis-7