Normal subjects were hypnotized and tested tachistoscopically to determine whether visual recognition was altered. The authors expected that hypnosis would alter perceptual defenses and thus lead to measurable alterations of recognition thresholds. The results bore this out. There was a lowered and narrowed range of thresholds for visual recognition during hypnosis. This was particularly true of words originally of high threshold. It is implied that this was made possible by a cessation of censorship during hypnosis, thereby making attention cathexis more impartially available.