Cognitive and neural processes in non-clinical auditory hallucinations

Background The nosological status of auditory hallucinations in non-clinical samples is unclear. Aims To investigate the functional neural basis of non-clinical hallucinations Method After 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 imaging. Results During 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). Conclusions Auditory hallucinatory experiences reported in non-clinical samples appear to be mediated by similar patterns of cerebral activation as found during hallucinations in schizophrenia. Declaration of interest None. Funding detailed in Acknowledgements.