Abstract
BackgroundAuditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), a prominent symptom of schizophrenia, are often highly distressing for patients. Better understanding of the pathogenesis of hallucinations could increase therapeutic options. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides direct measures of neuronal activity and has an excellent temporal resolution, offering a unique opportunity to study AVH pathophysiology.MethodsTwelve patients (10 paranoid schizophrenia, 2 psychosis not otherwise specified) indicated the presence of AVH by button-press while lying in a MEG scanner. As a control condition, patients performed a self-paced button-press task. AVH-state and non-AVH state were contrasted in a region-of-interest (ROI) approach. In addition, the two seconds before AVH onset were contrasted with the two seconds after AVH onset to elucidate a possible triggering mechanism.ResultsAVH correlated with a decrease in beta-band power in the left temporal cortex. A decrease in alpha-band power was observed in the right inferior frontal gyrus. AVH onset was related to a decrease in theta-band power in the right hippocampus.ConclusionsThese results suggest that AVH are triggered by a short aberration in the theta band in a memory-related structure, followed by activity in language areas accompanying the experience of AVH itself.
Highlights
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia with approximately 70% of all schizophrenia patients presenting with these symptoms [1,2]
AVH versus non-AVH state analysis MEG imaging revealed a statistically significant relative decrease in alpha-band neuronal power in the right inferior frontal gyrus, while no changes in alpha-band power were found in the control experiment
No significant correlations were found between sum scores on the positive symptom scale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for the AVH onset analysis. This is the first study to utilize the excellent temporal resolution of MEG to investigate brain activity related to AVH onset
Summary
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia with approximately 70% of all schizophrenia patients presenting with these symptoms [1,2]. Treatment for AVH would benefit from a detailed understanding of the pathophysiology of AVH. Several studies have used this approach [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), a prominent symptom of schizophrenia, are often highly distressing for patients. Better understanding of the pathogenesis of hallucinations could increase therapeutic options. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) provides direct measures of neuronal activity and has an excellent temporal resolution, offering a unique opportunity to study AVH pathophysiology
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