Work

Functional Connectivity Patterns Underlying the Experience of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Patients with Schizophrenia

Year: 2016

Type: preprint

Abstract: Schizophrenia is characterized by functional connectivity aberrations between brain regions that mediate different cognitive processes. The characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia such as delusions, hallucinations, passivity experiences etc. are suggested to reflect a disordered self-awareness. In the present study, we used a novel fMRI paradigm, the ‘Hallucination Attentional Modulation Task (HAMT)”, to examine the functional connectivity patterns underlying the experience of auditory verbal hallucinations in contrast to the patterns associated with processing of visual stimuli. We found that there was substantial overlap amongst healthy ( n =8) and schizophrenia ( n =6) subjects with respect to the functional connectivity patterns during the ‘free attention’ and ‘visual attention’ conditions of the paradigm. In patients with schizophrenia having continuous auditory verbal hallucinations, the connectivity between the bilateral superior parietal lobules and bilateral thalami were stronger during the ‘hallucination attention’ condition. These results provide preliminary leads that link auditory verbal hallucinations to an underlying disorder of self-agency.

Source: bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

DOI: 10.1101/062992

Authors: Parekh Pravesh, John P. John, Sangeetha Menon, Harsha N. Halahalli, Bindu M. Kutty

Institutions: National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, National Institute of Advanced Studies

Language: English

Topic: Schizophrenia research and treatment

Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Research Foundation