Kettlewell N, Lipscomb S, Evans E. Differences in Neuropsychological Correlates Between Normals and those Experiencing ‘Old Hag Attacks’. Percept Mot Skills. 1993. 76(3 Pt 1):839-845.
Purpose
240 university students were given the so-called Cognitive Laterality Battery as well as a questionnaire, the answers to which were used to identify those who had experienced an Old Hag Attack. Those suffering from this hypnagogic sleep disorder showed a statistically significantly different profile of scores from normal subjects on the Cognitive Laterality Battery. Also included is a discussion about the implications of this finding for existing theories concerning the Old Hag Attacks.
Introduction
Hypnagogic disorders are defined as sleep disturbances that occur during the onset of sleep as opposed to those which occur during sleep (for instance Pavor Nocturnus - a sleep terror disorder which frequently occurs in young children) or upon waking (hypnopompic disorders). The Old Hag Attack phenomenon is such a hypnagogic disorder. Prior to sleep, the person experiences paralysis, an inability to speak and a sensation of extreme fear. Often the person will hear, feel, see or sense “something” (an old hag, a beast, a man, a demon or something indescribable). The term “Old Hag” is commonly used in Newfoundland where the experience is felt to be caused by the spirit of a witch who rides the sleeper as one would a horse.
In an earlier study by Hufford, it was reported that this sleeping disorder affects about 17% of the population in Newfoundland. One explanation for this seemingly high percentage was offered by Firestone. He argued that certain “… social factors within Newfoundland rural communities make for a general development of hostility and dependency which may find ‘conventional’ expression in people being ‘hagged’. At the same time, the sleep paralysis episode is symbolic of the conflicting pressures upon the individual as an aspect of the high degree of role transparency found in Newfoundland outposts.” According to Firestone’s thesis, Old Hag Attacks should occur much more frequently in Newfoundland given the conditions he specified, be more prevalent in Newfoundland than elsewhere in the world. However, it must be noted that after further research, Newfoundland did not appear to be the Old Hag hotspot of the world. In fact, in this research about 20% of the people suffered from Old Hag Attacks. Surveys in California, Kentucky, Nebraska and Pennsylvania have yielded estimates of the frequency of Old Hag Attacks in the samples studied which varied from 10 to 25%. Against this backdrop, the 17% experiencing Old Hag Attacks in Newfoundland hardly seems surprising and requires no further explanation of the sort that Firestone proffered.
The phenomenon has been historically approached on a number of theoretical fronts (psychoanalytic, cultural and psychophysiological), but in none of these reports has there been examination of potential differences between normals and those suffering from Old Hag Attacks, except with respect to the obvious manifestations of their pathology.
General
The approach used in this research is to question whether there are differences between those having and not having Old Hag Attacks, by using the Cognitive Laterality Battery. This test permits an assessment of left and right brain hemispheric functioning. Current research seems to suggest that sequential, verbal and analytical functions can be attributed to left hemisphere processes, whereas the right hemisphere is often seen as underlying synthesis, music, the tonal elements of language, spatial perception, sequential processing, and spatial orientation. However, these listing represent only a portion of the catalog of functions which have been suggested at various times for the two hemispheres.
Procedure
Initially, the subjects were asked to fill out a questionnaire which was used to identify whether or not the student ever experienced Old Hag Attacks. Next, all student were asked to complete the Cognitive Laterality Battery. This battery consists of eight tests, four which measure functions associated with the right hemisphere, and four to measure functions associated with the left hemisphere.
Here’s a short description of the tests used in the Cognitive Laterality Battery:
Left-hemisphere Tests
- 1. Serial sounds - A series of familiar sounds at a short rate were presented. The subject needs to remember the order and then write the identities of the sounds in the same order in which the sounds were presented.
- 2. Serial numbers - A series of digits were playedon prerecorded tapes at a short rate (one digit per second). Afterwards, the subject was to write the sequence of numbers just as they were played.
- 3. Word production (fluency) - The subject was requested to write as many words as possible that started with a given letter of the alphabet. (three times repeated).
- 4. Word production (category) - The subject was instructed to write as many words that corresponded to a particular category indicated (twice repeated).
Right-hemisphere Tests
- 5. Orientation tests - The subject had to identify two identical 3D cubic arrangements from three stacks of cubes within a given time period.
- 6. Localization tests - An “X” was marked within a large black frame projected on a slide for three seconds. The subject had the mark the location of “X” within a similar but blank frame on an answer sheet.
- 7. Form completion (closure) - Silhouette pictures of common objects or scenes were projected in which random parts of the picture were erased. The subject was to imagine the completed picture and identify it.
- 8. Touching blocks - A slide is shown picturing a cube constructed of several rectangular blocks. Each time, five of them were numbered and the subject was given a certain time to count all the blocks touching each of the numbered blocks.
Right-hemisphere tests were alternated with left-hemisphere tests to avoid bias from attention or fatigue.
Results
Of the 240 students tested, 49 of them indicated they had very likely experienced an Old Hag Attack. Of the remaining “normal” students, a comparable sample of 49 was selected randomly for comparison. After all the test results of the subjects were analyzed and plotted, a clear difference became obvious between the normals and the students who experienced an Old Hag Attack. The two groups mostly differed on test 2 (serial numbers), 3 (word production (letters)), 6 (orientation) and test 7 (form completion). Those experiencing an Old Hag Attack scored higher on tests 6 and 7 and lower on tests 2 and 3 than those who did not report such experience.
Discussion
Biological explanation likely
The results seem to present strong support for there being a biologically based difference in the profile on the Cognitive Laterality Battery for those who do and those who do not suffer from the hypnagogic sleep disorder known as Old Hag Attacks. This observation would not be expected if the attacks were the result of some psychosexual Freudian variable (some have argued that mental conflict coming from a repressed component of the psychosexual instinct was responsible for Old Hag Attacks).
Prior explanations
The results from this experiment also seems as odds with the explanation for Old Hag Attacks set forth by Ness and Hishikawa, namely that chronic lack of sleep is responsible. They argue that this sleep deprivation is followed by an early onset of REM which intrudes into wakefulness and is experienced as an Old Hag Attack or in some cases as simply sleep paralysis. While the intrusion of REM into the waking state may account for Old Hag Attacks, it doesn’t seem reasonable that chronic lack of sleep is a necessary or sufficient condition for this phenomenon. This hypothesis is also not supported by the fact that some students who suffered from Old Hag Attacks did not report chronic lack of sleep preceding their attacks when they were interviewed.
Another unlikely explanation, set forth by Firestone after his research in Newfoundland, has already been mentioned in the beginning of this article.
So what’s the most likely cause for Old Hag Attacks given this experiment? People who suffer from Old Hag Attacks may have some as yet undiscovered brain disorder which permits REM phenomena to intrude upon wakefulness, a conclusion also reached by Hufford. It is possible that this disorder may be reflected in their similar profiles on the Cognitive Laterality Battery. Alternatively, the similarity of the profiles may represent their capacity to create creatures (note the elevation on their scores on the Form Completion Test) or to organize sounds or other sensory phenomena, into a menacing presence as a plausible focus for their fear upon finding themselves paralyzed.
Or perhaps the brain disorder covers only one part of the possible Old Hag Attacks. Here, the term “brain disorder” doesn’t mean something really really bad, but only a difference in some of the right-left hemispheric functions of the brain. It doesn’t mean you’re crippled for life 
