title: Cortical interactions during the experience of auditory verbal hallucinations.
abstract: Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), the perception of voices in the absence of auditory stimuli, are common and distressing symptoms reported by 50%-80% of patients with schizophrenia. However, the results in a number of imaging and electrophysiological studies on the origins of AVH are not consistent, and the underlying pathophysiology remains unclear. The authors enrolled a group of schizophrenia patients and normal-control subjects, age 18-45 years. Two patient groups participated in the study; 1) a group of 8 patients with drug-resistant spontaneous AVHs; and 2) a group of 7 patients whose AVHs were successfully controlled with neuroleptic medication; along with 16 normal-control subjects. The entire sample had EEG recording done, with the AVH group told to press a button when they experienced a hallucination, and the other two groups randomly told when to press the button. In the AVH group, hallucinations were longer in the "eyes-closed" than "eyes-open" condition. There was spreading phase-coupling in the AVH group, intra- and inter-hemispherically, at left and right frontal and temporal areas, under both eyes-closed and eyes-open condition, during the experience of AVH. There was a statistically significant increase of α-band frequency-specific synchrony maximum values in the AVH group. AVHs are considered to be complex features, and, as such, they reflect abnormal functional connectivity in multiple related regions in both intra- and inter-hemispherical brain sites, primarily defined by phase-integration.
authors.affiliation: Signal Processing Laboratory, University Mental Health Research Institute, Athens, Greece. angelopoulos.ilias@gmail.com
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Angelopoulos
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koutsoukos
authors.forename: Antonis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maillis
authors.forename: George N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
authors.forename: Costas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stefanis
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005123:Eye; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications; D055815:Young Adult