Underconstrained perception: A theoretical approach to the nature and function of verbal hallucinations

Behrendt, Ralf-Peter

doi:10.1016/s0010-440x(98)90067-0

Cited by 65 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…This is consistent with the notion that verbal hallucinations are perceptions that are merely 'underconstrained' by external sensory input [4] . However, activation has also been identifi ed in brain areas that are believed to subserve inner speech, including inferior frontal, inferior parietal and premotor areas [5] .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

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Vocalisation in Verbal Hallucinations: Case Report and Theoretical Model

Behrendt

Whittingham²

2005

Psychopathology

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Perception of one’s speech or the speech of others reflects an intrinsic process and should not to be seen as a product of information processing of external sensory input. From this perspective, the perception of one’s own or others’ speech is fundamentally equivalent to the experience of verbal hallucinations. Speech perception is generated primarily in the focus of attention, but auditory and proprioreceptive input from verbal articulations play an important constraining role, ensuring that perception remains adaptive to interaction with the external world. In verbal hallucinations these constraints may be partially disrupted. Perceptual qualities of hallucinatory voices may be generated in the focus of attention alone (in ignorance of actual acoustic stimulation from the environment), whilst content and grammatical aspects of hallucinatory speech perception may continue to be constrained adequately by proprioreceptive reafferentation from the speech apparatus. Thus subvocal speech may play a role in the elaboration and maintenance of verbal hallucinations.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…If there is a predisposition to underconstrained perception, increased attention to the social environment could outweigh the external sensory constraints normally imposed on perception [4] . In other words, intrinsic thalamocortical processes underlying perception become uncoupled from afferent sensory input to the thalamus [24] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocalisation in Verbal Hallucinations: Case Report and Theoretical Model

Behrendt

Whittingham²

2005

Psychopathology

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“…Similar top-down mechanisms are also central to many recent theoretical models of hallucinations (e.g., Behrendt, 1998;Boecker et al, 2000;Grossberg, 2000). A relevant cognitive mechanism might constitute a biased attributional process, possibly activated when dealing with an ambiguous situation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Do Positive Schizotypal Symptoms Predict False Perceptual Experiences in Nonclinical Populations?

Tsakanikos¹,

Reed²

2005

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease

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Abstract:We examined whether positive schizotypy (i.e., reports of hallucinatory and delusional-like experiences) in nonclinical participants could predict false perceptual experiences during detection of fast-moving words beyond a possible response bias. The participants (N ϭ 160) were assigned to one of two conditions: they were asked either to make presence/absence judgments (loose criterion) or to read aloud every detected word (strict criterion). Regression analysis showed that high levels of positive schizotypy predicted false alarms in the loose condition and false perceptions of words in the strict condition. The obtained effects were independent of detection accuracy, task order, impulsivity, and social desirability. We discuss the results in the context of information processing biases linked to the positive symptomatology of schizophrenia. Clinical and theoretical implications are also considered.

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“…On average, each participant saw 1-2 words that never appeared in the trials, although high-schizotypy scorers were more inclined to see such words under medium level of perceptual load. Fundamental decision-making processes are thought to be involved in normal perception (Nakayama, 2001) and similar mechanisms on how decision-making may interact with perception are central to several cognitive models of hallucinations (e.g., Behrendt, 1998;Boecker et al, 2000;Grossberg, 2000). It has been suggested (Garety et al, 2001) that schizophrenic patients are inclined to accept the possibility (decision-making) that an internally generated event, such as a 'voice', is an externally generated stimulus (perception).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual biases and positive schizotypy: The role of perceptual load

Tsakanikos

2006

Personality and Individual Differences

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The study investigated the effects of perceptual load on the bias to report seeing non-existing events-a bias associated with positive symptoms of schizophrenia and positive schizotypal symptoms. Undergraduate students completed psychometric measures of schizotypy and were asked to detect fast moving words among non-words under different levels of perceptual load. Perceptual load was manipulated through stimulus motion. Overall, the results showed that the higher the perceptual load, the stronger the bias to report seeing words in non-word trials. However, the observed bias was associated with positive schizotypy (Unusual Experiences) only when visual detection was performed under conditions of medium perceptual load. No schizotypy measure was associated with accuracy. The results suggest that, although some amount of perceptual ambiguity seems to be necessary for schizotypal bias generation, an increase in the perceptual load can inhibit this process possibly by preventing perception of task-irrelevant internal events, such as loose word associations.

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Underconstrained perception: A theoretical approach to the nature and function of verbal hallucinations

Cited by 65 publications

References 25 publications

Vocalisation in Verbal Hallucinations: Case Report and Theoretical Model

Vocalisation in Verbal Hallucinations: Case Report and Theoretical Model

Do Positive Schizotypal Symptoms Predict False Perceptual Experiences in Nonclinical Populations?

Perceptual biases and positive schizotypy: The role of perceptual load

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