Cited by 326Hallucinations in medical conditionsSchizophrenia research and treatmentVisual perception and processing mechanisms

Visual Hallucinations in the Psychosis Spectrum and Comparative Information From Neurodegenerative Disorders and Eye Disease

Open access
Waters, Flavie, Collerton, Daniel, ffytche, Dominic H., Jardri, Renaud, Pins, Delphine, Dudley, Robert, Blom, Jan Dirk, Mosimann, Urs Peter +3 more·2014·Schizophrenia Bulletin

Abstract

Much of the research on visual hallucinations (VHs) has been conducted in the context of eye disease and neurodegenerative conditions, but little is known about these phenomena in psychiatric and nonclinical populations. The purpose of this article is to bring together current knowledge regarding VHs in the psychosis phenotype and contrast this data with the literature drawn from neurodegenerative disorders and eye disease. The evidence challenges the traditional views that VHs are atypical or uncommon in psychosis. The weighted mean for VHs is 27% in schizophrenia, 15% in affective psychosis, and 7.3% in the general community. VHs are linked to a more severe psychopathological profile and less favorable outcome in psychosis and neurodegenerative conditions. VHs typically co-occur with auditory hallucinations, suggesting a common etiological cause. VHs in psychosis are also remarkably complex, negative in content, and are interpreted to have personal relevance. The cognitive mechanisms of VHs in psychosis have rarely been investigated, but existing studies point to source-monitoring deficits and distortions in top-down mechanisms, although evidence for visual processing deficits, which feature strongly in the organic literature, is lacking. Brain imaging studies point to the activation of visual cortex during hallucinations on a background of structural and connectivity changes within wider brain networks. The relationship between VHs in psychosis, eye disease, and neurodegeneration remains unclear, although the pattern of similarities and differences described in this review suggests that comparative studies may have potentially important clinical and theoretical implications.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/schbul/sbu036

Cites

121 of 121 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

2 of the 123 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [17]Eggers C Verlaufsweisen Kindlicher and Praepuberaler Schizophrenien. Monographie aus dem Gesamtgebiet der Psychiatrye V. Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag. 4733553
  2. [23]Huber G Gross G Schüttler R Schizophrenie. Eine verlaufs- und sozialpsychiatrische Langzeitstudie. Berlin, Germany: Springer; 1979

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Waters, F., Collerton, D., ffytche, D. H., Jardri, R., Pins, D., Dudley, R., Blom, J. D., Mosimann, U. P., Eperjesi, F., Ford, S., & Larøi, F.
Affiliations
  • The University of Western Australia (AU)
  • Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
  • King's College London (GB)
  • Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Lille (FR)
  • University of Groningen (NL)
  • University of Bern (CH)
  • Aston University (GB)
  • Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (AU)
  • University of Liège (BE)
Corresponding author
Waters, Flavie
Venue
Schizophrenia Bulletin
Published
2014-06-13
Volume
40
Issue
Suppl_4
Pages
S233-S245
ISSN
  • 0586-7614 (ISSN-L)
  • 1745-1701
OpenAlex
W2146834289
Cited by
325
References
123
Citations by year
2026: 21 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 8
FWCI
12.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Schizophrenia Bulletin (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Aston Publications Explorer (Aston University) (submittedVersion)
  • Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • ORBi (University of Liège) (submittedVersion)
  • University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • Newcastle University ePrints (Newcastle Univesity)
  • Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
Funders
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
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
visual hallucinations, psychosis spectrum
MeSH terms
Affective Disorders, Psychotic, Brain, Eye Diseases, Hallucinations, Humans, Schizophrenia, Schizophrenic Psychology, Severity of Illness Index, Visual Cortex, Neurodegenerative Diseases

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review