1
|
Panikratova YR, Lebedeva IS, Akhutina TV, Tikhonov DV, Kaleda VG, Vlasova RM. Executive control of language in schizophrenia patients with history of auditory verbal hallucinations: A neuropsychological and resting-state fMRI study. Schizophr Res 2023; 262:201-210. [PMID: 37923596 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.10.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2023] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/26/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND As demonstrated by a plethora of studies, compromised executive functions (EF) and language are implicated in mechanisms of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), but the contribution of their interaction to AVH remains unclear. We hypothesized that schizophrenia patients with history of AVH (AVHh+) vs. without history of AVH (AVHh-) have a specific deficit of executive control of language and alterations in functional connectivity (FC) between the brain regions involved in EF and language, and these neuropsychological and neurophysiological traits are associated with each other. METHODS To explore the executive control of language and its contribution to AVH, we used an integrative approach involving analysis of neuropsychological and resting-state fMRI data of 34 AVHh+, 16 AVHh-, and 40 healthy controls. We identified the neuropsychological and FC measures that differentiated between AVHh+, AVHh-, and HC, and tested the associations between them. RESULTS AVHh+ were characterized by decreased category and phonological verbal fluency, utterance length, productivity in the planning tasks, and poorer retelling. AVHh+ had decreased FC between the left inferior frontal gyrus and the anterior cingulate cortex. Productivity in category verbal fluency was associated with the FC between these regions. CONCLUSIONS Poor executive control of word retrieval and deficient programming of sentence and narrative related to more general deficits of planning may be the neuropsychological traits specific for AVHh+. A neurophysiological trait specific for AVHh+ may be a decreased FC between regions involved in language production and differentiation between alien- vs. self-generated speech and between language production vs. comprehension.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yana R Panikratova
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Multimodal Analysis, Mental Health Research Center, 115522, 34 Kashirskoye shosse, Moscow, Russia.
| | - Irina S Lebedeva
- Laboratory of Neuroimaging and Multimodal Analysis, Mental Health Research Center, 115522, 34 Kashirskoye shosse, Moscow, Russia
| | - Tatiana V Akhutina
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 125009, 11/9 Mokhovaya street, Moscow, Russia
| | - Denis V Tikhonov
- Department of Youth Psychiatry, Mental Health Research Center, 115522, 34 Kashirskoye shosse, Moscow, Russia
| | - Vasilii G Kaleda
- Department of Youth Psychiatry, Mental Health Research Center, 115522, 34 Kashirskoye shosse, Moscow, Russia
| | - Roza M Vlasova
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, 101 Manning Dr # 1, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Collins L, Brezina V, Demjén Z, Semino E, Woods A. Corpus linguistics and clinical psychology: Investigating personification in first-person accounts of voice-hearing. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CORPUS LINGUISTICS 2023; 28:28-59. [PMID: 37090241 PMCID: PMC7614468 DOI: 10.1075/ijcl.21019.col] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Triangulating corpus linguistic approaches with other (linguistic and non-linguistic) approaches enhances "both the rigour of corpus linguistics and its incorporation into all kinds of research" (McEnery & Hardie, 2012:227). Our study investigates an important area of mental health research: the experiences of those who hear voices that others cannot hear, and particularly the ways in which those voices are described as person-like. We apply corpus methods to augment the findings of a qualitative approach to 40 interviews with voice-hearers, whereby each interview was coded as involving 'minimal' or 'complex' personification of voices. Our analysis provides linguistic evidence in support of the qualitative coding of the interviews, but also goes beyond a binary approach by revealing different types and degrees of personification of voices, based on how they are referred to and described by voice-hearers. We relate these findings to concepts that inform therapeutic interventions in clinical psychology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luke Collins
- Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University
| | | | | | - Elena Semino
- Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University
| | - Angela Woods
- Department of English Studies, Durham University
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
How to reap the benefits of language for psychiatry. Psychiatry Res 2022; 318:114932. [PMID: 36332505 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Our aim is to find accurate and valid markers for diagnosis, prognosis, and the monitoring of treatment to improve outcome for patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. This search has led us into the disciplines of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence, as automatic analysis of spoken language may provide useful markers for psychiatry. Together with our language team at UMC Groningen and with great colleagues around the globe, we intend to push this field forward and provide tools that can support service users in self-monitoring and help clinicians with diagnosis, treatment monitoring and risk prediction.
Collapse
|
4
|
Johnson JF, Belyk M, Schwartze M, Pinheiro AP, Kotz SA. Hypersensitivity to passive voice hearing in hallucination proneness. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:859731. [PMID: 35966990 PMCID: PMC9366353 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.859731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Voices are a complex and rich acoustic signal processed in an extensive cortical brain network. Specialized regions within this network support voice perception and production and may be differentially affected in pathological voice processing. For example, the experience of hallucinating voices has been linked to hyperactivity in temporal and extra-temporal voice areas, possibly extending into regions associated with vocalization. Predominant self-monitoring hypotheses ascribe a primary role of voice production regions to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). Alternative postulations view a generalized perceptual salience bias as causal to AVH. These theories are not mutually exclusive as both ascribe the emergence and phenomenology of AVH to unbalanced top-down and bottom-up signal processing. The focus of the current study was to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying predisposition brain states for emergent hallucinations, detached from the effects of inner speech. Using the temporal voice area (TVA) localizer task, we explored putative hypersalient responses to passively presented sounds in relation to hallucination proneness (HP). Furthermore, to avoid confounds commonly found in in clinical samples, we employed the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS) for the quantification of HP levels in healthy people across an experiential continuum spanning the general population. We report increased activation in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) during the perception of voice features that positively correlates with increased HP scores. In line with prior results, we propose that this right-lateralized pSTG activation might indicate early hypersensitivity to acoustic features coding speaker identity that extends beyond own voice production to perception in healthy participants prone to experience AVH.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph F. Johnson
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Michel Belyk
- Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Schwartze
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Ana P. Pinheiro
- Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Sonja A. Kotz
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- *Correspondence: Sonja A. Kotz,
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Amorim M, Roberto MS, Kotz SA, Pinheiro AP. The perceived salience of vocal emotions is dampened in non-clinical auditory verbal hallucinations. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2022; 27:169-182. [PMID: 34261424 DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2021.1949972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Introduction: Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia but are also reported in the general population without need for psychiatric care. Previous evidence suggests that AVH may reflect an imbalance of prior expectation and sensory information, and that altered salience processing is characteristic of both psychotic and non-clinical voice hearers. However, it remains to be shown how such an imbalance affects the categorisation of vocal emotions in perceptual ambiguity.Methods: Neutral and emotional nonverbal vocalisations were morphed along two continua differing in valence (anger; pleasure), each including 11 morphing steps at intervals of 10%. College students (N = 234) differing in AVH proneness (measured with the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale) evaluated the emotional quality of the vocalisations.Results: Increased AVH proneness was associated with more frequent categorisation of ambiguous vocalisations as 'neutral', irrespective of valence. Similarly, the perceptual boundary for emotional classification was shifted by AVH proneness: participants needed more emotional information to categorise a voice as emotional.Conclusions: These findings suggest that emotional salience in vocalisations is dampened as a function of increased AVH proneness. This could be related to changes in the acoustic representations of emotions or reflect top-down expectations of less salient information in the social environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Amorim
- CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Magda S Roberto
- CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Sonja A Kotz
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands.,Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ana P Pinheiro
- CICPSI, Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.,Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
de Boer JN, Corona Hernández H, Gerritse F, Brederoo SG, Wijnen FNK, Sommer IE. Negative content in auditory verbal hallucinations: a natural language processing approach. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2022; 27:139-149. [PMID: 34154512 DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2021.1941831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Negative content of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) is a strong predictor of distress and impairment. This paper quantifies emotional voice-content in order to explore both subjective (i.e. perceived) and objectively (i.e. linguistic sentiment) measured negativity and investigates associations with distress. METHODS Clinical and non-clinical participants with frequent AVH (n = 40) repeated and recorded their AVH verbatim directly upon hearing. The AVH were analyzed for emotional valence using Pattern, a rule-based sentiment analyzer for Dutch. The AVH of the clinical individuals were compared to those of non-clinical voice-hearers on emotional valence and associated with experienced distress. RESULTS The mean objective valence of AVH in patients was significantly more negative than those of non-clinical voice-hearers. In the clinical individuals a larger proportion of the voice-utterances was negative (34.7% versus 18.4%) in objective valence. The linguistic valence of the AVH showed a significant, strong association with the perceived negativity, amount of distress and disruption of life, but not with the intensity of distress. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that AVH of patients have a more negative linguistic content than those of non-clinical voice-hearers, which is associated with the experienced distress. Thus, patients not only perceive their voices as more negative, objective analyses confirm this.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- J N de Boer
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - H Corona Hernández
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - F Gerritse
- Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - S G Brederoo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - F N K Wijnen
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - I E Sommer
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Corona-Hernández H, Brederoo SG, de Boer JN, Sommer IEC. A data-driven linguistic characterization of hallucinated voices in clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers. Schizophr Res 2022; 241:210-217. [PMID: 35151122 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.01.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2021] [Revised: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are heterogeneous regarding phenomenology and etiology. This has led to the proposal of AVHs subtypes. Distinguishing AVHs subtypes can inform AVHs neurocognitive models and also have implications for clinical practice. A scarcely studied source of heterogeneity relates to the AVHs linguistic characteristics. Therefore, in this study we investigate whether linguistic features distinguish AVHs subtypes, and whether linguistic AVH-subtypes are associated with phenomenology and voice-hearers' clinical status. METHODS Twenty-one clinical and nineteen non-clinical voice-hearers participated in this study. Participants were instructed to repeat verbatim their AVHs just after experiencing them. AVH-repetitions were audio-recorded and transcribed. AVHs phenomenology was assessed using the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale of the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales. Hierarchical clustering analyses without a priori group dichotomization were performed using quantitative measures of sixteen linguistic features to distinguish sets of AVHs. RESULTS A two-AVHs-cluster solution best partitioned the data. AVHs-clusters significantly differed in linguistic features (p < .001); AVHs phenomenology (p < .001); and distribution of clinical voice-hearers (p < .001). The "expanded-AVHs" cluster was characterized by more determiners, more prepositions, longer utterances (all p < .01), and mainly contained non-clinical voice-hearers. The "compact-AVHs" cluster had fewer determiners and prepositions, shorter utterances (all p < .01), more negative content, higher degree of negativity (both p < .05), and predominantly came from clinical voice-hearers. DISCUSSION Two voice-speech clusters were recognized, differing in syntactic-grammatical complexity and negative phenomenology. Our results suggest clinical voice-hearers often hear negative, "compact-voices", understandable under Broca's right hemisphere homologue and memory-based mechanisms. Conversely, non-clinical voice-hearers experience "expanded-voices", better accounted by inner speech AVHs models.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- H Corona-Hernández
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - S G Brederoo
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
| | - J N de Boer
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University & Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - I E C Sommer
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells & Systems, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Mourgues C, Negreira AM, Quagan B, Mercan NE, Niles H, Kafadar E, Bien C, Kamal F, Powers AR. Development of Voluntary Control Over Voice-Hearing Experiences: Evidence From Treatment-Seeking and Non-Treatment-Seeking Voice-Hearers. SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN OPEN 2020; 1:sgaa052. [PMID: 33196043 PMCID: PMC7643545 DOI: 10.1093/schizbullopen/sgaa052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Voluntary control over voice-hearing experiences is one of the most consistent predictors of functioning among voice-hearers. However, control over voice-hearing experiences is likely to be more nuanced and variable than may be appreciated through coarse clinician-rated measures, which provide little information about how control is conceptualized and developed. We aimed to identify key factors in the evolution of control over voice-hearing experiences in treatment-seeking (N = 7) and non-treatment-seeking (N = 8) voice-hearers. Treatment-seeking voice-hearers were drawn from local chapters of the Connecticut Hearing Voices Network, and non-treatment-seeking voice-hearers were recruited from local spiritually oriented organizations. Both groups participated in a clinical assessment, and a semi-structured interview meant to explore the types of control exhibited and how it is fostered. Using Grounded Theory, we identified that participants from both groups exerted direct and indirect control over their voice-hearing experiences. Participants that developed a spiritual explanatory framework were more likely to exert direct control over the voice-hearing experiences than those that developed a pathologizing framework. Importantly, despite clear differences in explanatory framework and distress because of their experiences, both groups underwent similar trajectories to develop control and acceptance over their voice-hearing experiences. Understanding these factors will be critical in transforming control over voice-hearing experiences from a phenomenological observation to an actionable route for clinical intervention.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Catalina Mourgues
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven CT
| | - Alyson M Negreira
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven CT
| | - Brittany Quagan
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven CT
| | | | - Halsey Niles
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven CT.,Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
| | | | - Claire Bien
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven CT
| | - Faria Kamal
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY
| | - Albert R Powers
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven CT.,Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.,Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Collins LC, Semino E, Demjén Z, Hardie A, Moseley P, Woods A, Alderson-Day B. A linguistic approach to the psychosis continuum: (dis)similarities and (dis)continuities in how clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers talk about their voices. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2020; 25:447-465. [PMID: 33158372 PMCID: PMC7713671 DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2020.1842727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: "Continuum" approaches to psychosis have generated reports of similarities and differences in voice-hearing in clinical and non-clinical populations at the cohort level, but not typically examined overlap or degrees of difference between groups. Methods: We used a computer-aided linguistic approach to explore reports of voice-hearing by a clinical group (Early Intervention in Psychosis service-users; N = 40) and a non-clinical group (spiritualists; N = 27). We identify semantic categories of terms statistically overused by one group compared with the other, and by each group compared to a control sample of non-voice-hearing interview data (log likelihood (LL) value 6.63+=p < .01; effect size measure: log ratio 1.0+). We consider whether individual values support a continuum model. Results: Notwithstanding significant cohort-level differences, there was considerable continuity in language use. Reports of negative affect were prominent in both groups (p < .01, log ratio: 1.12+). Challenges of cognitive control were also evident in both cohorts, with references to "disengagement" accentuated in service-users (p < .01, log ratio: 1.14+). Conclusion: A corpus linguistic approach to voice-hearing provides new evidence of differences between clinical and non-clinical groups. Variability at the individual level provides substantial evidence of continuity with implications for cognitive mechanisms underlying voice-hearing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luke C. Collins
- ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK, Luke C. Collins ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science, Bailrigg House, Bailrigg, LancasterLA1 4YE, UK
| | - Elena Semino
- ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
| | - Zsófia Demjén
- Institute for Education, University College London, London, UK
| | - Andrew Hardie
- ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
| | - Peter Moseley
- Psychology Department, Northumbria University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK
| | - Angela Woods
- Hearing the Voice, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
Positive and Useful Voices in Patients With Schizophrenia: Prevalence, Course, Characteristics, and Correlates. J Nerv Ment Dis 2020; 208:587-592. [PMID: 32453282 DOI: 10.1097/nmd.0000000000001183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia have been characterized by their negative emotional valence. However, positive hallucinations have also been described. The objective of the current study is to explore the prevalence, course, characteristics, and associations of positive and useful voices. The Positive and Useful Voices Inquiry and some clinical and functioning instruments were administered to a sample of 68 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder presenting with AVHs. Both the lifetime and current prevalences of positive and useful voices were high. Although AVHs tended to remain stable, there was a trend to decrease over time. The strongest positive attributions of such voices were that they help patients to feel important, amuse them, and help them to conduct their studies and carry out their profession. They seem to be mainly related to more grandiosity and to worse general functioning. Interference with biological and psychological treatments and the need for personalized formulations in patients with auditory hallucinations are discussed.
Collapse
|
11
|
Tovar A, Fuentes-Claramonte P, Soler-Vidal J, Ramiro-Sousa N, Rodriguez-Martinez A, Sarri-Closa C, Sarró S, Larrubia J, Andrés-Bergareche H, Miguel-Cesma MC, Padilla PP, Salvador R, Pomarol-Clotet E, Hinzen W. The linguistic signature of hallucinated voice talk in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2019; 206:111-117. [PMID: 30573404 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2018.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2018] [Revised: 07/10/2018] [Accepted: 12/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Very few studies have investigated the formal linguistic aspects of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), though speech is a defining aspect of AVHs. Hallucinated speech heard by 19 patients with schizophrenia and highly frequent voices was obtained online, as and when they spoke, and annotated for pre-selected linguistic variables. Results showed that, consistently across the sample, (i) the grammatical first Person was significantly less represented than both second and third person, and often absent altogether; (ii) overwhelmingly, isolated clauses with no grammatical connectivity (parataxis) were produced, as compared with subordinations, coordinations, and adjunctions; (iii) in all participants except one, virtually no noun phrases (NPs) were anaphoric ones, back-referring to previous NPs, illustrating again a lack of connectivity across utterances. (vi) Sentence-level content was largely personal rather than impersonal, and in impersonal utterances, it was generally vague. (v) Formal syntactic errors were consistently nearly absent, as were semantic level errors such as paraphasias. Voice talk was not generally stereotyped. These results indicate that, despite a certain amount of individual variation, there is a distinctive linguistic profile to voice speech, which constrains theories of AVHs and their neurocognitive basis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antonia Tovar
- Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Paola Fuentes-Claramonte
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Spain
| | - Joan Soler-Vidal
- Benito Menni Complex Assistencial de Salut Mental, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nuria Ramiro-Sousa
- Hospital Sant Rafael, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 107, 08035 Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Carmen Sarri-Closa
- Benito Menni Complex Assistencial de Salut Mental, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Salvador Sarró
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Spain
| | - Jesús Larrubia
- Centro Neuropsiquiátrico N. S. del Carmen, Camino del Abejar, 100, 50190 Zaragoza, Spain
| | | | | | - Pedro Pablo Padilla
- Centro Neuropsiquiátrico N. S. del Carmen, Camino del Abejar, 100, 50190 Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Raymond Salvador
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Spain
| | - Edith Pomarol-Clotet
- FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; CIBERSAM, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Spain
| | - Wolfram Hinzen
- Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, C/ Roc Boronat, 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain; FIDMAG Germanes Hospitalàries Research Foundation, C/ Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 38, 08830 Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, ICREA, Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Hugdahl K, Sommer IE. Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia From a Levels of Explanation Perspective. Schizophr Bull 2018; 44:234-241. [PMID: 29069435 PMCID: PMC5814913 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbx142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
In the present article, we present a "Levels of Explanation" (LoE) approach to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) in schizophrenia. Mental phenomena can be understood at different levels of explanation, including cultural, clinical, cognitive, brain imaging, cellular, and molecular levels. Current research on AVHs is characterized by accumulation of data at all levels, but with little or no interaction of findings between levels. A second advantage with a Levels of Explanation approach is that it fosters interdisciplinarity and collaboration across traditional borders, facilitating a real breakthrough in future research. We exemplify a Levels of Explanation approach with data from 3 levels where findings at 1 level provide predictions for another level. More specifically, we show how functional neuroimaging data at the brain level correspond with behavioral data at the cognitive level, and how data at these 2 levels correspond with recent findings of changes in neurotransmitter function at the cellular level. We further discuss implications for new therapeutic interventions, and the article is ended by suggestion how future research could incorporate genetic influences on AVHs at the molecular level of explanation by providing examples for animal work.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth Hugdahl
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway,Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway,Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway,NORMENT Center for the Study of Mental Disorders, Oslo, Norway,To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: +4755586277; e-mail:
| | - Iris E Sommer
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway,Department of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Arnulf I, Uguccioni G, Gay F, Baldayrou E, Golmard JL, Gayraud F, Devevey A. What Does the Sleeping Brain Say? Syntax and Semantics of Sleep Talking in Healthy Subjects and in Parasomnia Patients. Sleep 2017; 40:4345704. [DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsx159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
|