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Abstract:
Abstract: This investigation was concerned with the
validation of a [H215O]PET correlation analysis method capable of
detecting brain activations associated with transient hallucinatory
experiences in hallucinating schizophrenic subjects (n=8). To
enable further validation of this methodology and assist in
interpretation of the results, a psychiatric control group of
non-hallucinating schizophrenic subjects (n=7) underwent the same
procedure while auditory stimulus of variable duration was
administered via headphones. After reconstruction, images of each
subject were aligned, normalised to a standard space, spatially
smoothed and analysed using SPM`99. Non-hallucinating participants
demonstrated a consistent pattern of bilateral auditory cortex
activation (BA 40/42) in response to random, variable external
speech. Whereas, hallucinating participants demonstrated focal
auditory cortex activations in the left temporal (BA 22) and right
temporal (BA 37) cortex. In addition, hallucinating participants
demonstrated significant activations in frontal and limbic regions.
These results demonstrate the sensitivity of this correlational
technique in detecting transient auditory experiences and highlight
the neuroanatomical differences between the perceptual experience
of hearing externally produced speech and auditory hallucinations
amongst schizophrenic subjects.
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