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The hallucinating brain: A review of structural and functional neuroimaging studies of hallucinations
Abstract
Hallucinations remains one of the most intriguing phenomena in psychopathology. In the past two decades the advent of neuroimaging techniques have allowed researchers to investigate what is happening in the brain of those who experience hallucinations. In this article we review both structural and functional neuroimaging studies of patients with auditory and visual hallucinations as well as a small number of studies that have assessed cognitive processes associated with hallucinations in healthy volunteers. The current literature suggests that in addition to secondary (and occasionally primary) sensory cortices, dysfunction in prefrontal premotor, cingulate, subcortical and cerebellar regions also seem to contribute to hallucinatory experiences. Based on the findings of these studies we tentatively propose a neurocognitive model in which both bottom-up and top-down processes interact to produce these erroneous percepts. Finally, directions for future work are discussed.
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“This corresponds well to ‘symptom-capture’ studies of AVHs, in which similar areas are often implicated (Allen et al., 2008).”
From Auditory verbal hallucinations as atypical inner speech monitoring, and the potential of neurostimulation as a treatment option (2013) · cites this paper as Allen et al., 2008
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“Depression typically involves frontolimbic/cingulate regions (Schmaal et al. 2017; Wise et al. 2017), whereas TTG, the core of PAC, is linked to AVH and early sensory abnormalities across disorders (Allen et al. 2008; Modinos et al. 2013 ).”
Influential
Metadata
- Authors
- Allen, P., Larøi, F., McGuire, P. K., & Aleman, A.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Liège (BE)
- University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Allen, Paul
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2008-01
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 175-191
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2107394985
- Cited by
- 579
- References
- 104
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 29 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 48
- FWCI
- 1.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion)
- Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) (submittedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Hallucinations in medical conditions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, cerebellum, subcortical dysfunction, top-down and bottom-up processes, healthy volunteers
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Hallucinations, Humans, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Positron-Emission Tomography
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