Lead researcher: Ben Parris
Faculty: Faculty of Science and Technology
Cluster, centre, institute: Psychology
URA position title: Hypnotic susceptibility and the Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine system
Relevant disciplines:
BSc Psychology
BSc Midwifery
BSc Mental Health Nursing
Description of the position: A research assistant is required to help with research investigating what
makes some people more susceptible to hypnosis than others since it can have important clinical
and medical ramifications. Whilst research indicates that personality factors such as openness to
experience influence hypnotic susceptibility there has been no clear correlate established in the
literature. One factor that has not been considered is a person¹s tendency to shift between
exploitation (pursual of known sources of reward) and exploration (investigation of new sources of
reward). The Adaptive Gain Theory proposes that the Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine system in the
brainstem responds to changes in task utility (exploitation or exploration); changes that can be
measured using eye tracking and pupillometry. Gilzenrat et al. (2010) showed that superior tone
discrimination performance was associated with smaller baseline pupils (exploitation), while larger
baseline pupils were associated with poorer performance (exploration). It is predicted that those
most susceptible to hypnotic suggestion will exhibit larger baseline pupils during this task evidencing
a greater tendency to explore. The RA will work closely with the supervisor and his research team
and will help in designing, creating, and running the experiment and disseminating the results via
academic outputs and public engagement activities.
Explain how this position will enhance and enrich the student's undergraduate experience and
how it relates to the relevant courses/disciplines and/or future career of the student: The student
will work closely with the supervisor and his research team and will be made a part of that team. The
student will be encouraged to present any outputs at a British Psychology Society conference and to
disseminate the results through social media. The student will be encouraged to contribute to the
writing up of any outputs thereby ensuring co-creation. The student will gain a thorough knowledge
of obtaining and analysing eye-tracking data. Finally, the student will receive training in hypnosis
techniques. Along with co-creation, Fusion will be achieved via the effects the position will have on
the student¹s subsequent studies. The experience will furnish the student with ideas and experience
for future studies and will train them in advanced academic writing and presentation. The student
will also be encouraged to stay on with us at MSc level and build on the skills and experience gained
during the RA position. The student will gain experience both with designing complex experiments
and using sophisticated technological methods that they would not gain from their undergraduate
program. The student will also be involved in putting together plan for dissemination of this and
related work at the next Festival of Learning.
How will the position be supervised and mentored: The student will spend time being trained by
the supervisor and his research team in the use of the eye tracking equipment and the pupillometry
technique. Subsequent to the training period the student will meet with the supervisor three times a
week to discuss ongoing research progress and will also meet with the supervisor¹s research team to
discuss relevant papers and writing up of the work. Initially, the student will work closely with the
supervisor to write up the Method section for the work and towards the end of the project will be
involved in writing up the Results and Discussion sections for the work and discussing future
directions for the research. The student will be encouraged to think of related future work that could
form the basis of potential project work in their final year and/or MSc level study. The student will
work with the supervisor to create an academic poster for presentation at a future conference and
will be trained in how to present the poster and encouraged to do so. Finally, the supervisor intends
to be trained by the RA in the use of newer social media about which he may not be aware.
List of duties and responsibilities of the position:
Recruiting, hypnotising and screening participants for hypnotic susceptibility.
Testing participants on a tone discrimination task using the Eyelink eye tracker.
Taking part in discussions about the motivations underpinning the work and future directions of the
research undertaken.
Contributing to written outputs associated with the project.
Data preparation and analysis using Excel and SPSS.
Help with the dissemination of the work through social media and at public engagement events
List the position qualifications including any special requirements (be specific):
Confidence with technology but no specific experience in eye tracking
is required.
Experience of statistics and use of SPSS.
Willingness to hypnotise participants.