scholarly journals Cognitive and neural processes in non-clinical auditory hallucinations

2007 ◽  
Vol 191 (S51) ◽  
pp. s76-s81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Barkus ◽  
John Stirling ◽  
Richard Hopkins ◽  
Shane McKie ◽  
Shôn Lewis

BackgroundThe nosological status of auditory hallucinations in non-clinical samples is unclearAimsTo investigate the functional neural basis of non-clinical hallucinationsMethodAfter selection from 1206 people, 68 participants of high, medium and low hallucination proneness completed a task designed to elicit verbal hallucinatory phenomena under conditions of stimulus degradation. Eight subjects who reported hearing a voice when none was present repeated the task during functional imagingResultsDuring the signal detection task, the high hallucination-prone participants reported a voice to be present when it was not (false alarms) significantly more often than the average or low participants (P<0.03, d.f. =2). On functional magnetic resonance imaging, patterns of activation during these false alarms showed activation in the superior and middle temporal cortex (P<0.001)ConclusionsAuditory hallucinatory experiences reported in non-clinical samples appear to be mediated by similar patterns of cerebral activation as found during hallucinations in schizophrenia

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 562-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Kong ◽  
Christina J Herold ◽  
Eric F C Cheung ◽  
Raymond C K Chan ◽  
Johannes Schröder

Abstract Neurological soft signs (NSS) are often found in patients with schizophrenia. A wealth of neuroimaging studies have reported that NSS are related to disturbed cortical-subcortical-cerebellar circuitry in schizophrenia. However, the association between NSS and brain network abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia remains unclear. In this study, the graph theoretical approach was used to analyze brain network characteristics based on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. NSS were assessed using the Heidelberg scale. We found that there was no significant difference in global network properties between individuals with high and low levels of NSS. Regional network analysis showed that NSS were associated with betweenness centrality involving the inferior orbital frontal cortex, the middle temporal cortex, the hippocampus, the supramarginal cortex, the amygdala, and the cerebellum. Global network analysis also demonstrated that NSS were associated with the distribution of network hubs involving the superior medial frontal cortex, the superior and middle temporal cortices, the postcentral cortex, the amygdala, and the cerebellum. Our findings suggest that NSS are associated with alterations in topological attributes of brain networks corresponding to the cortical-subcortical-cerebellum circuit in patients with schizophrenia, which may provide a new perspective for elucidating the neural basis of NSS in schizophrenia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1255-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z. Atakan ◽  
S. Bhattacharyya ◽  
P. Allen ◽  
R. Martín-Santos ◽  
J. A. Crippa ◽  
...  

BackgroundCannabis can induce transient psychotic symptoms, but not all users experience these adverse effects. We compared the neural response to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in healthy volunteers in whom the drug did or did not induce acute psychotic symptoms.MethodIn a double-blind, placebo-controlled, pseudorandomized design, 21 healthy men with minimal experience of cannabis were given either 10 mg THC or placebo, orally. Behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging measures were then recorded whilst they performed a go/no-go task.ResultsThe sample was subdivided on the basis of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale positive score following administration of THC into transiently psychotic (TP; n = 11) and non-psychotic (NP; n = 10) groups. During the THC condition, TP subjects made more frequent inhibition errors than the NP group and showed differential activation relative to the NP group in the left parahippocampal gyrus, the left and right middle temporal gyri and in the right cerebellum. In these regions, THC had opposite effects on activation relative to placebo in the two groups. The TP group also showed less activation than the NP group in the right middle temporal gyrus and cerebellum, independent of the effects of THC.ConclusionsIn this first demonstration of inter-subject variability in sensitivity to the psychotogenic effects of THC, we found that the presence of acute psychotic symptoms was associated with a differential effect of THC on activation in the ventral and medial temporal cortex and cerebellum, suggesting that these regions mediate the effects of the drug on psychotic symptoms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1061-1072
Author(s):  
Harry Farmer ◽  
Uri Hertz ◽  
Antonia F de C Hamilton

Abstract During our daily lives, we often learn about the similarity of the traits and preferences of others to our own and use that information during our social interactions. However, it is unclear how the brain represents similarity between the self and others. One possible mechanism is to track similarity to oneself regardless of the identity of the other (Similarity account); an alternative is to track each other person in terms of consistency of their choice similarity with respect to the choices they have made before (consistency account). Our study combined functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and computational modelling of reinforcement learning (RL) to investigate the neural processes that underlie learning about preference similarity. Participants chose which of two pieces of artwork they preferred and saw the choices of one agent who usually shared their preference and another agent who usually did not. We modelled neural activation with RL models based on the similarity and consistency accounts. Our results showed that activity in brain areas linked to reward and social cognition followed the consistency account. Our findings suggest that impressions of other people can be calculated in a person-specific manner, which assumes that each individual behaves consistently with their past choices.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1135
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Janowska ◽  
Brianna Balugas ◽  
Matthew Pardillo ◽  
Victoria Mistretta ◽  
Katherine Chavarria ◽  
...  

While the desire to uncover the neural correlates of consciousness has taken numerous directions, self-face recognition has been a constant in attempts to isolate aspects of self-awareness. The neuroimaging revolution of the 1990s brought about systematic attempts to isolate the underlying neural basis of self-face recognition. These studies, including some of the first fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) examinations, revealed a right-hemisphere bias for self-face recognition in a diverse set of regions including the insula, the dorsal frontal lobe, the temporal parietal junction, and the medial temporal cortex. In this systematic review, we provide confirmation of these data (which are correlational) which were provided by TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) and patients in which direct inhibition or ablation of right-hemisphere regions leads to a disruption or absence of self-face recognition. These data are consistent with a number of theories including a right-hemisphere dominance for self-awareness and/or a right-hemisphere specialization for identifying significant social relationships, including to oneself.


2004 ◽  
Vol 185 (6) ◽  
pp. 516-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sukhwinder S. Shergill ◽  
Mick J. Brammer ◽  
Edson Amaro ◽  
Steve C. R. Williams ◽  
Robin M. Murray ◽  
...  

SummaryWe used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how brain activity associated with auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia changed during hallucinatory events. Activation in the left inferior frontal and right middle temporal gyri was evident 6–9s before the person signalled the onset of the hallucination, whereas activation in the bilateral temporal gyri and the left insula coincided with the perception of the hallucination. This supports the hypothesis that during hallucinations activation in cortical regions mediating the generation of inner speech may precede the engagement of areas implicated in the perception of auditory verbal material.


BJPsych Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 317-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asako Mori ◽  
Yasumasa Okamoto ◽  
Go Okada ◽  
Koki Takagaki ◽  
Masahiro Takamura ◽  
...  

BackgroundBehavioural activation is an efficient treatment for depression and can improve intrinsic motivation. Previous studies have revealed that the frontostriatal circuit is involved in intrinsic motivation; however, there are no data on how behavioural activation affects the frontostriatal circuit.AimsWe aimed to investigate behavioural activation-related changes in the frontostriatal circuit.MethodFifty-nine individuals with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to either the intervention or non-intervention group. The intervention group received five weekly behavioural activation sessions. The participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning on two separate occasions while performing a stopwatch task based on intrinsic motivation. We investigated changes in neural activity and functional connectivity after behavioural activation.ResultsAfter behavioural activation, the intervention group had increased activation and connectivity in the frontostriatal region compared with the non-intervention group. The increased activation in the right middle frontal gyrus was correlated with an improvement of subjective sensitivity to environmental rewards.ConclusionsBehavioural activation-related changes to the frontostriatal circuit advance our understanding of psychotherapy-induced improvements in the neural basis of intrinsic motivation.Declaration of interestNone.


2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 2245-2250 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.M. Nazimek ◽  
M.D. Hunter ◽  
R. Hoskin ◽  
I. Wilkinson ◽  
P.W. Woodruff
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhail Matar ◽  
Julien Dirani ◽  
Alec Marantz ◽  
Liina Pylkkänen

AbstractDuring language comprehension, the brain processes not only word meanings, but also the grammatical structure—the “syntax”—that strings words into phrases and sentences. Yet the neural basis of syntax remains contentious, partly due to the elusiveness of experimental designs that vary structure independently of meaning-related variables. Here, we exploit Arabic’s grammatical properties, which enable such a design. We collected magnetoencephalography (MEG) data while participants read the same noun-adjective expressions with zero, one, or two contiguously-written definite articles (e.g., ‘chair purple’; ‘the-chair purple’; ‘the-chair the-purple’), representing equivalent concepts, but with different levels of syntactic complexity (respectively, indefinite phrases: ‘a purple chair’; sentences: ‘The chair is purple.’; definite phrases: ‘the purple chair’). We expected regions processing syntax to respond differently to simple versus complex structures. Single-word controls (‘chair’/‘purple’) addressed definiteness-based accounts. In noun-adjective expressions, syntactic complexity only modulated activity in the left posterior temporal lobe (LPTL), ~ 300 ms after each word’s onset: indefinite phrases induced more MEG-measured positive activity. The effects disappeared in single-word tokens, ruling out non-syntactic interpretations. In contrast, left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) activation was driven by meaning. Overall, the results support models implicating the LPTL in structure building and the LATL in early stages of conceptual combination.


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