Derren Brown performed this stunt where he gets home viewers to stick to their seats. I think the methods he uses are quite obvious (to me, perhaps). It is interesting to see the many youtube videos people posted of them or their friends stuck to their seat.
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jNYRhGPjyQ
Youtube peoples stuck to seats:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08vocY6F_zA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq9Jqe00dhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxJ3Rk-myUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjzmpIT_Zsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeeffkLIe_Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwelKoqJfYI
Prior to playing any "video" Derren says a bunch of things describing the participation in the event. In which he makes it sound desirable to end up being stuck in your seat. Saying that a particularly balanced invidual would be most likely to be subject to his technique. And suggesting that otherwise you might as well not watch the video at all. At the very start he begins describing what a good person you'd be if you ended up stuck in your seat. There are flashes of an image of a man bound and gagged, but I think Derren tells the truth when he says that he's not using them, they are a misdirection to wouldbe crackers, people trying to figure out what his technique is. This is basically reinforcement of belief through positive and negative suggestion. I don't know what the rotating lines accomplish, other than to misdirect and otherwise confuse participants.
Deliberate and overt mass suggestion
Re: Deliberate and overt mass suggestion
alternatively, the rotating lines could be, hypothetically, to trip the superior colliculus, I don't know what that would accomplish. But there are specific parts of the brain that recognize and handle lines at various orentations. Part of an older brain, unconscious processing of orientation. Superior colliculus. Maybe some way of inducing a more relaxed state, or confusing that part of the brain.