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Hallucinatory Experiences in Non-clinical Populations

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The Neuroscience of Hallucinations

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that some people hear voices in the absence of distress or a need for psychiatric care. Although there have been reports of such individuals throughout history, until relatively recently there was little empirical research on this population. The consensus from interview and questionnaire-based research is that non-clinical voice-hearers hear voices that are more positive in content, less frequent, less disruptive, and less distressing. Influenced by cognitive models of psychosis, the literature has focused on the appraisals that voice-hearers make of their voices, to the exclusion of other variables such as content. There is growing evidence that clinical voice-hearers have more negative beliefs about their voices and that these are influenced by their more negative beliefs about people in general, formed in the context of negative life experiences. Initial fMRI data suggests that non-clinical voices are underpinned by similar neural mechanisms as clinical voices but as yet it is unclear from these studies why they are experienced so differently. The current chapter reviews these findings and suggest avenues for future research.

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Abbreviations

AVH:

Auditory verbal hallucinations

fMRI:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging

IFG:

Inferior frontal gyrus

IPA:

Interpretative phenomenological analysis

MTG:

Middle temporal gyrus

SMA:

Supplementary motor area

STS:

Superior temporal sulcus

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, CF14 4XN, UK

    Katy Hill & David E. J. Linden

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  1. Katy Hill
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  2. David E. J. Linden
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Correspondence to Katy Hill .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Medical Centre of Lille, Pediatric Psychiatry Department, Fontan Hospital, F-59037, Lille cedex, France

    Renaud Jardri

  2. Sainte-Anne Hospital, Center for Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Université Paris Descartes, 2 ter rue d'Alesia, Paris, F-75014, France

    Arnaud Cachia

  3. University Medical Centre of Lille, Psychiatry Department, Fontan Hospital, rue Verhaeghe, Lille cedex, F-59037, France

    Pierre Thomas

  4. University Medical Centre of Lille, Functional Neurosciences & Disorders Lab, Salengro Hospital, Lille cedex, F-59037, France

    Delphine Pins

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Hill, K., Linden, D.E.J. (2013). Hallucinatory Experiences in Non-clinical Populations. In: Jardri, R., Cachia, A., Thomas, P., Pins, D. (eds) The Neuroscience of Hallucinations. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4121-2_2

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