title: Signs of increased cortical hyperexcitability selectively associated with spontaneous anomalous bodily experiences in a nonclinical population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The current study examined the presence of cortical hyperexcitability, in nonclinical hallucinators, reporting different forms of anomalous bodily experiences (ABEs). Groups reporting visual out-of-body experiences and nonvisual sensed-presence experiences were examined. It was hypothesised that only those hallucinators whose experiences contained visual elements would show increased signs of visual cortical hyperexcitability.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and eighty-two participants completed the "Pattern-glare task" (involving the viewing of striped gratings with spatial frequencies irritable to visual cortex)-a task known to reflect degrees of cortical hyperexcitability associated with hallucinatory/aura experiences in neurological samples. Participants also completed questionnaire measures of anomalous "temporal-lobe experience" and predisposition to anomalous visual experiences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Those reporting increased levels of anomalous bodily experiences provided significantly elevated scores on measures of temporal-lobe experience. Only the visual OBE group reported significantly elevated levels of cortical hyperexcitability as assessed by the pattern-glare task.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collectively, the results are consistent with there being an increased degree of background cortical hyperexcitability in the cortices of individuals predisposed to some ABE-type hallucinations, even in the nonclinical population. The present study also establishes the clinical utility of the pattern-glare task for examining signs of aberrant visual connectivity in relation to visual hallucinations.
authors: a Behavioural Brain Sciences Centre, School of Psychology , University of Birmingham , Birmingham , UK.
authors: Jason J
authors: JJ
authors: Braithwaite
authors: Emma
authors: E
authors: Broglia
authors: Oliver
authors: O
authors: Brincat
authors: Louise
authors: L
authors: Stapley
authors: Arnold J
authors: AJ
authors: Wilkins
authors: Chie
authors: C
authors: Takahashi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D005260:Female; D019466:Glare; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010469:Perceptual Distortion / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult