A model of hysterical and hypnotic blindness: Cognition, motivation, and awareness.

Reviews clinical and experimental analyses of hysterical conversion reactions of blindness. A model is offered to account for the visually controlled behavior of the psychogenically blind. The model attributes a central role to motivational factors in determining selective nonawareness of cognition. A case study of hypnotic blindness is presented that illustrates the utility of the model. The model has implications for interpretations of other hypnotic phenomena and for views concerning the relations between cognition and awareness. (79 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)