"Auditory hallucinations: The perception of sounds that do not exist"

Kenneth Hugdahl, Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, and Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway,
hugdahl@psybp.uib.no

ABSTRACT: 

In my talk I will present an overview of recent research in our laboratory on cognitive and brain markers of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. Auditory hallucinations are conceived of as the perception of "voices" that do not exist acoustically. The research extends from a theoretical model of auditory hallucinations that sees hallucinations as perceptual experiences caused by neuronal hyper-activation in the speech areas in the upper posterior temporal lobes. Once initiated the hallucinations draw available cognitive resources, in particular turning attention inwards to the "voices" rather than outwards to the voices,  that may have parietal lobe localization. The "voices" are also experienced by the patient as out of cognitive control. The failure of cognitive inhibition and of executive functions are suggested to be due to frontal lobe hypo-activation. The presentation will end by presenting new research that  extends the model by looking for transmitter and receptor correlates of neuronal hyper- and hypo-activation in the critical brain areas, using MR spectroscopy  measures.

ALL ARE WELCOME.