Faria reported that if he looked intently at a person for several minutes while repeatedly ordering him to sleep, this would induce a state of somnambulism—a state like sleep, but where speaking and directing is still possible. A self that can be separated from the “normal waking self.” It receives, holds, and executes commands. It can also talk.

What’s really happening (our current best model) is that the normal self chooses to not remember. It puts up a wall, but the wall is self-made and rests on will. What is interesting is that a will-based wall can become self-standing. By suggesting the wall into existence, and by then treating it as self-standing, the info behind the wall really (the content of some past consciousness) really does remain in the dark.Hypnosis induces the control of movements by means of internal representations, which can be generated because of enhanced self imagery. Because of the enhanced self-monitoring and increased attention and suggestibility induced by hypnosis, these internal representations take control of the left hand, and prevent it from moving. This occurs because hypnotic paralysis causes a reconfiguration of activity in the centers of executive function, leading to changes in the functional connectivity between the premotor and motor cortices, such that there is reduced coupling between the areas involved in planning movements and those which execute them. This model provides a new framework for future studies of the neurobiological bases of hypnosis.