Threatening auditory hallucinations and Cotard syndrome in Parkinson disease.

PubMed

Factor, Stewart A; Molho, Eric S

2004-01-01

Psychotic symptoms are commonly reported in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). In particular, patients experience nonthreatening visual hallucinations that can occur with insight (so called hallucinosis) or without. Auditory hallucinations are uncommon, and schizophrenialike symptoms such as pejorative and threatening auditory hallucinations and delusions that are persecutory, referential, somatic, religious, or grandiose have rarely been reported. The authors present 2 PD patients who experienced threatening auditory hallucinations, without visual hallucinations, and schizophrenialike delusions with detailed description of the clinical phenomenology including 1 patient with Cotard syndrome.

Hallucinations Experienced by Visually Impaired: Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

PubMed

Pang, Linda

2016-12-01

: Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a condition where visual hallucinations occur as a result of damage along the visual pathway. Patients with Charles Bonnet Syndrome maintain partial or full insight that the hallucinations are not real, absence of psychological conditions, and absence of hallucinations affecting other sensory modalities, while maintaining intact intellectual functioning. Charles Bonnet Syndrome has been well documented in neurologic, geriatric medicine, and psychiatric literature, but there is lack of information in optometric and ophthalmologic literature. Therefore, increased awareness of signs and symptoms associated with Charles Bonnet Syndrome is required among practicing clinicians. This review of the literature will also identify other etiologies of visual hallucinations, pathophysiology of Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and effective management strategies.

Hallucinations Experienced by Visually Impaired: Charles Bonnet Syndrome

PubMed Central

Pang, Linda

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Charles Bonnet Syndrome is a condition where visual hallucinations occur as a result of damage along the visual pathway. Patients with Charles Bonnet Syndrome maintain partial or full insight that the hallucinations are not real, absence of psychological conditions, and absence of hallucinations affecting other sensory modalities, while maintaining intact intellectual functioning. Charles Bonnet Syndrome has been well documented in neurologic, geriatric medicine, and psychiatric literature, but there is lack of information in optometric and ophthalmologic literature. Therefore, increased awareness of signs and symptoms associated with Charles Bonnet Syndrome is required among practicing clinicians. This review of the literature will also identify other etiologies of visual hallucinations, pathophysiology of Charles Bonnet Syndrome, and effective management strategies. PMID:27529611

Remembering verbally-presented items as pictures: Brain activity underlying visual mental images in schizophrenia patients with visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Stephan-Otto, Christian; Siddi, Sara; Senior, Carl; Cuevas-Esteban, Jorge; Cambra-Martí, Maria Rosa; Ochoa, Susana; Brébion, Gildas

2017-09-01

Previous research suggests that visual hallucinations in schizophrenia consist of mental images mistaken for percepts due to failure of the reality-monitoring processes. However, the neural substrates that underpin such dysfunction are currently unknown. We conducted a brain imaging study to investigate the role of visual mental imagery in visual hallucinations. Twenty-three patients with schizophrenia and 26 healthy participants were administered a reality-monitoring task whilst undergoing an fMRI protocol. At the encoding phase, a mixture of pictures of common items and labels designating common items were presented. On the memory test, participants were requested to remember whether a picture of the item had been presented or merely its label. Visual hallucination scores were associated with a liberal response bias reflecting propensity to erroneously remember pictures of the items that had in fact been presented as words. At encoding, patients with visual hallucinations differentially activated the right fusiform gyrus when processing the words they later remembered as pictures, which suggests the formation of visual mental images. On the memory test, the whole patient group activated the anterior cingulate and medial superior frontal gyrus when falsely remembering pictures. However, no differential activation was observed in patients with visual hallucinations, whereas in the healthy sample, the production of visual mental images at encoding led to greater activation of a fronto-parietal decisional network on the memory test. Visual hallucinations are associated with enhanced visual imagery and possibly with a failure of the reality-monitoring processes that enable discrimination between imagined and perceived events. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Twenty year multi-follow-up of different types of hallucinations in schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and depression.

PubMed

Goghari, Vina M; Harrow, Martin

2016-10-01

Hallucinations are a salient feature of both psychotic and mood disorders. Currently there is a call for more research on the phenomenology of different forms of hallucinations, in a broader array of disorders, to further both theoretical knowledge and clinical utility. We investigated auditory, visual, and olfactory hallucinations at index hospitalization and auditory and visual hallucinations prospectively for 20years in 150 young patients, namely 51 schizophrenia, 25 schizoaffective, 28 bipolar, and 79 unipolar depression. For the index hospitalization, the data showed schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients had a greater rate of auditory and visual hallucinations than bipolar and depression patients. However, over the longitudinal trajectory of their illness, a greater percentage of schizophrenia patients had auditory and visual hallucinations than schizoaffective patients, as well as bipolar and depression patients. Also, in contrast to the initial period, schizoaffective patients did not differentiate themselves over the follow-up period from bipolar patients. Bipolar and depression patients did not significantly differ at index hospitalization or at follow-up. We found visual hallucinations differentiated the groups to a greater degree over the 20year course than did auditory hallucinations. These findings suggest the longitudinal course is more important for differentiating schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, whereas the initial years may be more useful to differentiate schizoaffective disorder from bipolar disorder. Furthermore, we found that the early presence of auditory hallucinations was associated with a reduced likelihood for a future period of recovery. No olfactory hallucinations were present at the index hospitalization in any patients. Over the course of 20years, a minority of schizophrenia patients presented with olfactory hallucinations, and very few schizoaffective and bipolar patients presented with olfactory hallucinations. This study underscores the importance of the longitudinal course of symptoms to understand the relationship between related disorders and recovery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source memory errors in schizophrenia, hallucinations and negative symptoms: a synthesis of research findings.

PubMed

Brébion, G; Ohlsen, R I; Bressan, R A; David, A S

2012-12-01

Previous research has shown associations between source memory errors and hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. We bring together here findings from a broad memory investigation to specify better the type of source memory failure that is associated with auditory and visual hallucinations. Forty-one patients with schizophrenia and 43 healthy participants underwent a memory task involving recall and recognition of lists of words, recognition of pictures, memory for temporal and spatial context of presentation of the stimuli, and remembering whether target items were presented as words or pictures. False recognition of words and pictures was associated with hallucination scores. The extra-list intrusions in free recall were associated with verbal hallucinations whereas the intra-list intrusions were associated with a global hallucination score. Errors in discriminating the temporal context of word presentation and the spatial context of picture presentation were associated with auditory hallucinations. The tendency to remember verbal labels of items as pictures of these items was associated with visual hallucinations. Several memory errors were also inversely associated with affective flattening and anhedonia. Verbal and visual hallucinations are associated with confusion between internal verbal thoughts or internal visual images and perception. In addition, auditory hallucinations are associated with failure to process or remember the context of presentation of the events. Certain negative symptoms have an opposite effect on memory errors.

Joan of Arc: Sanctity, witchcraft or epilepsy?

PubMed

Nicastro, Nicolas; Picard, Fabienne

2016-04-01

The objective of this article is to describe whether Joan of Arc had epilepsy and how that may have influenced her sense of mission and ability to encourage thousands of people to help her to chase the English out of France. Documentation of her Trial of Condemnation in 1431 provides a description of her episodes of experienced voices and visions. From the age of thirteen, Joan of Arc experienced frequent episodes of auditory hallucinations associated with elementary or complex visual hallucinations (e.g., a great light or human faces). These had sudden onset, lasting seconds or minutes at most, and occurred when awake or during sleep, arousing her. Some could be triggered by an auditory stimulus. She had no disorganized thought between the episodes. The semiology of the episodes is very suggestive of epileptic seizures, which have been considered as ecstatic by some authors or as partial epilepsy with auditory features by others, which seems more concordant with the ictal symptoms. The auditory and visual hallucinations could have had a religious content because during her childhood and adolescence, she was brought up in a religious environment, insomuch as this content first undefined only appeared after a few seizures. We can suppose that such hallucinations, without the knowledge of their medical origin, gave her a sense of divine mission, hence, a real strength to try to accomplish the orders she heard during the episodes. Her role during the Hundred Years' War and her narration of her strange episodes led her to be burned for heresy at the age of nineteen, yet rehabilitated 25 years later and to be canonized for her achievements in 1920. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Epilepsy, Art, and Creativity". Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome in a Patient With Right Medial Occipital Lobe Infarction: Epileptic or Deafferentation Phenomenon?

PubMed

Kumral, Emre; Uluakay, Arzu; Dönmez, İlknur

2015-07-01

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is an uncommon disorder characterized by complex and recurrent visual hallucinations in patients with visual pathway pathologic defects. To describe a patient who experienced complex visual hallucinations following infarction in the right occipital lobe and epileptic seizure who was diagnosed as having CBS. A 65-year-old man presented acute ischemic stroke caused by artery to artery embolism involving the right occipital lobe. Following ischemic stroke, complex visual hallucinations in the left visual field not associated with loss of consciousness or delusion developed in the patient. Hallucinations persisted for >1 month and during hallucination, no electrographic seizures were recorded through 24 hours of videoelectroencephalographic monitoring. CBS may develop in a patient with occipital lobe infarction following an embolic event. CBS associated with medial occipital lobe infarction and epilepsy may coexist and reflects the abnormal functioning of an integrated neuronal network.

Childhood Onset Schizophrenia: High Rate of Visual Hallucinations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, Christopher N.; Greenstein, Deanna; Clasen, Liv; Gochman, Pete; Miller, Rachel; Tossell, Julia W.; Mattai, Anand A.; Gogtay, Nitin; Rapoport, Judith L.

2011-01-01

Objective: To document high rates and clinical correlates of nonauditory hallucinations in childhood onset schizophrenia (COS). Method: Within a sample of 117 pediatric patients (mean age 13.6 years), diagnosed with COS, the presence of auditory, visual, somatic/tactile, and olfactory hallucinations was examined using the Scale for the Assessment…

Visual hallucinatory syndromes and the anatomy of the visual brain.

PubMed

Santhouse, A M; Howard, R J; ffytche, D H

2000-10-01

We have set out to identify phenomenological correlates of cerebral functional architecture within Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) hallucinations by looking for associations between specific hallucination categories. Thirty-four CBS patients were examined with a structured interview/questionnaire to establish the presence of 28 different pathological visual experiences. Associations between categories of pathological experience were investigated by an exploratory factor analysis. Twelve of the pathological experiences partitioned into three segregated syndromic clusters. The first cluster consisted of hallucinations of extended landscape scenes and small figures in costumes with hats; the second, hallucinations of grotesque, disembodied and distorted faces with prominent eyes and teeth; and the third, visual perseveration and delayed palinopsia. The three visual psycho-syndromes mirror the segregation of hierarchical visual pathways into streams and suggest a novel theoretical framework for future research into the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric syndromes.

[Nursing Experience of Using Mirror Visual Feedback for a Schizophrenia Patient With Visual Hallucinations].

PubMed

Lan, Shu-Ling; Chen, Yu-Chi; Chang, Hsiu-Ju

2018-06-01

The aim of this paper was to describe the nursing application of mirror visual feedback in a patient suffering from long-term visual hallucinations. The intervention period was from May 15th to October 19th, 2015. Using the five facets of psychiatric nursing assessment, several health problems were observed, including disturbed sensory perceptions (prominent visual hallucinations) and poor self-care (e.g. limited abilities to self-bathe and put on clothing). Furthermore, "caregiver role strain" due to the related intense care burden was noted. After building up a therapeutic interpersonal relationship, the technique of brain plasticity and mirror visual feedback were performed using multiple nursing care methods in order to help the patient suppress her visual hallucinations by enhancing a different visual stimulus. We also taught her how to cope with visual hallucinations in a proper manner. The frequency and content of visual hallucinations were recorded to evaluate the effects of management. The therapeutic plan was formulated together with the patient in order to boost her self-confidence, and a behavior contract was implemented in order to improve her personal hygiene. In addition, psychoeducation on disease-related topics was provided to the patient's family, and they were encouraged to attend relevant therapeutic activities. As a result, her family became less passive and negative and more engaged in and positive about her future. The crisis of "caregiver role strain" was successfully resolved. The current experience is hoped to serve as a model for enhancing communication and cooperation between family and staff in similar medical settings.

The Pareidolia Test: A Simple Neuropsychological Test Measuring Visual Hallucination-Like Illusions.

PubMed

Mamiya, Yasuyuki; Nishio, Yoshiyuki; Watanabe, Hiroyuki; Yokoi, Kayoko; Uchiyama, Makoto; Baba, Toru; Iizuka, Osamu; Kanno, Shigenori; Kamimura, Naoto; Kazui, Hiroaki; Hashimoto, Mamoru; Ikeda, Manabu; Takeshita, Chieko; Shimomura, Tatsuo; Mori, Etsuro

2016-01-01

Visual hallucinations are a core clinical feature of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and this symptom is important in the differential diagnosis and prediction of treatment response. The pareidolia test is a tool that evokes visual hallucination-like illusions, and these illusions may be a surrogate marker of visual hallucinations in DLB. We created a simplified version of the pareidolia test and examined its validity and reliability to establish the clinical utility of this test. The pareidolia test was administered to 52 patients with DLB, 52 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 20 healthy controls (HCs). We assessed the test-retest/inter-rater reliability using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the concurrent validity using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) hallucinations score as a reference. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the pareidolia test to differentiate DLB from AD and HCs. The pareidolia test required approximately 15 minutes to administer, exhibited good test-retest/inter-rater reliability (ICC of 0.82), and moderately correlated with the NPI hallucinations score (rs = 0.42). Using an optimal cut-off score set according to the ROC analysis, and the pareidolia test differentiated DLB from AD with a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 92%. Our study suggests that the simplified version of the pareidolia test is a valid and reliable surrogate marker of visual hallucinations in DLB.

Special Supplement Introduction: Hallucinations

PubMed Central

Fernyhough, Charles; Waters, Flavie

2014-01-01

This Special Supplement presents reports from 11 working groups of the interdisciplinary International Consortium on Hallucination Research meeting in Durham, UK, September 2013. Topics include psychological therapies for auditory hallucinations, culture and hallucinations, hallucinations in children and adolescents, visual hallucinations, interdisciplinary approaches to the phenomenology of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs), AVHs in persons without need for care, a multisite study of the PSYRATS instrument, subtypes of AVHs, the Hearing Voices Movement, Research Domain Criteria for hallucinations, and cortical specialization as a route to understanding hallucinations. PMID:24936079

[Transient charles bonnet syndrome after excision of a right occipital meningioma: a case report].

PubMed

Arai, Takao; Hasegawa, Yuzuru; Tanaka, Toshihide; Kato, Naoki; Watanabe, Mitsuyoshi; Nakamura, Aya; Murayama, Yuichi

2014-05-01

Charles Bonnet syndrome is a condition characterized by visual hallucinations. These simple or complex visual hallucinations are more common in elderly individuals with impaired peripheral vision. The current report describes a case of transient Charles Bonnet syndrome appearing after the removal of a meningioma. The patient was a 61-year-old man who already had impaired visual acuity due to diabetic retinopathy. Brain MRI revealed a cystic tumor severely compressing the right occipital lobe. Starting on day 2 postoperatively, the patient was troubled by recurring visual hallucinations involving people, flowers, pictures, and familiar settings(the train and a coffee shop). These continued for 3.5 months. This period roughly coincided with the time for the occipital lobe to recover from the compression caused by the tumor, a fact that was confirmed by several MRI scans. ¹²³I-IMP SPECT performed 1 month after the surgical operation showed an area of hypoperfusion in the right parieto-occipital lobe. Based on the patient's clinical course and MRI findings, the mechanism of onset of visual hallucinations in this patient was put forward. The release of pressure in the brain by tumor removal and subsequent recovery changed the blood flow to the brain. This triggered visual hallucinations in the patient, who was already predisposed to developing Charles Bonnet syndrome because of diabetic retinopathy. This case is interesting since it indicates that central neurological factors, as well as visual deficits, may induce the appearance of visual hallucinations in Charles Bonnet syndrome.

The role of meta-cognitions and thought control techniques in predisposition to auditory and visual hallucinations.

PubMed

García-Montes, José M; Cangas, Adolfo; Pérez-Alvarez, M; Fidalgo, Angel M; Gutiérrez, Olga

2006-09-01

This study examines the relationship between a predisposition to hallucinations and meta-cognitive variables and thought-control techniques, controlling for the possible effect of anxiety. In order to do so, we start out with the hypothesis that anxiety does not, in itself, explain the association between meta-cognitions and a predisposition to auditory and visual hallucinations. A within-participants correlational design was employed. Four psychometric tests relating to predisposition to hallucinations, anxiety, meta-cognitions and thought-control techniques were administered to 150 participants. It was found that, after controlling for participants' anxiety levels, the 'loss of cognitive confidence' factor predicted the score on the scale of predisposition to both auditory and visual hallucinations. Thought-control strategies based on worry were also found to be predictive of a greater predisposition to hallucinations, regardless of whether or not participants' anxiety level was controlled. Meta-cognitive variables of cognitive confidence and thought control through worry are positively associated with a predisposition to hallucinations. The correlational nature of the design does not allow inferences about causal relationships.

Serial and semantic encoding of lists of words in schizophrenia patients with visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Ohlsen, Ruth I; Pilowsky, Lyn S; David, Anthony S

2011-03-30

Previous research has suggested that visual hallucinations in schizophrenia are associated with abnormal salience of visual mental images. Since visual imagery is used as a mnemonic strategy to learn lists of words, increased visual imagery might impede the other commonly used strategies of serial and semantic encoding. We had previously published data on the serial and semantic strategies implemented by patients when learning lists of concrete words with different levels of semantic organisation (Brébion et al., 2004). In this paper we present a re-analysis of these data, aiming at investigating the associations between learning strategies and visual hallucinations. Results show that the patients with visual hallucinations presented less serial clustering in the non-organisable list than the other patients. In the semantically organisable list with typical instances, they presented both less serial and less semantic clustering than the other patients. Thus, patients with visual hallucinations demonstrate reduced use of serial and semantic encoding in the lists made up of fairly familiar concrete words, which enable the formation of mental images. Although these results are preliminary, we propose that this different processing of the lists stems from the abnormal salience of the mental images such patients experience from the word stimuli. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hallucinations in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease: an analysis of sensory modalities involved and the repercussion on patients.

PubMed

Llorca, P M; Pereira, B; Jardri, R; Chereau-Boudet, I; Brousse, G; Misdrahi, D; Fénelon, G; Tronche, A-M; Schwan, R; Lançon, C; Marques, A; Ulla, M; Derost, P; Debilly, B; Durif, F; de Chazeron, I

2016-12-01

Hallucinations have been described in various clinical populations, but they are neither disorder nor disease specific. In schizophrenia patients, hallucinations are hallmark symptoms and auditory ones are described as the more frequent. In Parkinson's disease, the descriptions of hallucination modalities are sparse, but the hallucinations do tend to have less negative consequences. Our study aims to explore the phenomenology of hallucinations in both hallucinating schizophrenia patients and Parkinson's disease patients using the Psycho-Sensory hAllucinations Scale (PSAS). The main objective is to describe the phenomena of these clinical symptoms in those two specific populations. Each hallucinatory sensory modality significantly differed between Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia patients. Auditory, olfactory/gustatory and cœnesthetic hallucinations were more frequent in schizophrenia than visual hallucinations. The guardian angel item, usually not explored in schizophrenia, was described by 46% of these patients. The combination of auditory and visual hallucinations was the most frequent for both Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. The repercussion index summing characteristics of each hallucination (frequency, duration, negative aspects, conviction, impact, control and sound intensity) was always higher for schizophrenia. A broader view including widespread characteristics and interdisciplinary works must be encouraged to better understand the complexity of the process involved in hallucinations.

Hallucinations in schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease: an analysis of sensory modalities involved and the repercussion on patients

PubMed Central

Llorca, P. M.; Pereira, B.; Jardri, R.; Chereau-Boudet, I.; Brousse, G.; Misdrahi, D.; Fénelon, G.; Tronche, A.-M.; Schwan, R.; Lançon, C.; Marques, A.; Ulla, M.; Derost, P.; Debilly, B.; Durif, F.; de Chazeron, I.

2016-01-01

Hallucinations have been described in various clinical populations, but they are neither disorder nor disease specific. In schizophrenia patients, hallucinations are hallmark symptoms and auditory ones are described as the more frequent. In Parkinson’s disease, the descriptions of hallucination modalities are sparse, but the hallucinations do tend to have less negative consequences. Our study aims to explore the phenomenology of hallucinations in both hallucinating schizophrenia patients and Parkinson’s disease patients using the Psycho-Sensory hAllucinations Scale (PSAS). The main objective is to describe the phenomena of these clinical symptoms in those two specific populations. Each hallucinatory sensory modality significantly differed between Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia patients. Auditory, olfactory/gustatory and cœnesthetic hallucinations were more frequent in schizophrenia than visual hallucinations. The guardian angel item, usually not explored in schizophrenia, was described by 46% of these patients. The combination of auditory and visual hallucinations was the most frequent for both Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. The repercussion index summing characteristics of each hallucination (frequency, duration, negative aspects, conviction, impact, control and sound intensity) was always higher for schizophrenia. A broader view including widespread characteristics and interdisciplinary works must be encouraged to better understand the complexity of the process involved in hallucinations. PMID:27905557

The Pareidolia Test: A Simple Neuropsychological Test Measuring Visual Hallucination-Like Illusions

PubMed Central

Mamiya, Yasuyuki; Nishio, Yoshiyuki; Watanabe, Hiroyuki; Yokoi, Kayoko; Uchiyama, Makoto; Baba, Toru; Iizuka, Osamu; Kanno, Shigenori; Kamimura, Naoto; Kazui, Hiroaki; Hashimoto, Mamoru; Ikeda, Manabu; Takeshita, Chieko; Shimomura, Tatsuo; Mori, Etsuro

2016-01-01

Background Visual hallucinations are a core clinical feature of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and this symptom is important in the differential diagnosis and prediction of treatment response. The pareidolia test is a tool that evokes visual hallucination-like illusions, and these illusions may be a surrogate marker of visual hallucinations in DLB. We created a simplified version of the pareidolia test and examined its validity and reliability to establish the clinical utility of this test. Methods The pareidolia test was administered to 52 patients with DLB, 52 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and 20 healthy controls (HCs). We assessed the test-retest/inter-rater reliability using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and the concurrent validity using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) hallucinations score as a reference. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the pareidolia test to differentiate DLB from AD and HCs. Results The pareidolia test required approximately 15 minutes to administer, exhibited good test-retest/inter-rater reliability (ICC of 0.82), and moderately correlated with the NPI hallucinations score (rs = 0.42). Using an optimal cut-off score set according to the ROC analysis, and the pareidolia test differentiated DLB from AD with a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 92%. Conclusions Our study suggests that the simplified version of the pareidolia test is a valid and reliable surrogate marker of visual hallucinations in DLB. PMID:27171377

Elevated Voriconazole Level Associated With Hallucinations and Suicidal Ideation: A Case Report.

PubMed

Jansen, Jeffrey W; Sen, Sumon K; Moenster, Ryan P

2017-01-01

Voriconazole, a broad-spectrum antifungal, has been associated with visual and auditory hallucinations. We report the case of patient being treated with voriconazole for pulmonary aspergillosis who developed visual hallucinations and new suicidal ideation with plan. Voriconazole troughs were supratherapeutic (9.0 mcg/mL) and the patient was positive for the CYP2C19*1/*2 allele.

Hallucinatory experiences in visually impaired individuals: Charles Bonnet syndrome - implications for research and clinical practice.

PubMed

Jurišić, Darija; Sesar, Irena; Ćavar, Ivan; Sesar, Antonio; Živković, Maja; Ćurković, Marko

2018-06-01

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) refers to visual hallucinations that occur in individuals with preserved cognitive functions associated with visual impairment. This article reviews occurence of visual hallucinations in subjects with CBS by journals published in English in the Pubmed database in the period 1992-2018. Criteria for selection of appropriate papers were sufficient information and perspicuous view on pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical presentation and treatment possibilities of CBS. Most commonly, visual hallucinations in patients with CBS are complex, repetitive and stereotyped. Such individuals have preserved insight that those percepts are not real, and there is an absence of secondary explanatory delusions and hallucinations within other modalities. Seeing as the aforementioned percepts do not share all the characteristics of hallucinations, it remains unresolved how they should be referred to. Terms as release hallucinations, one that is reflecting its underlying pathogenesis, or confabulatory hallucinatory experiences have been proposed. Moreover, CBS has also been referred to as phantom vision syndrome and may occur in any ophthalmological disease. It is not particularly connected with loss of function along any level of the visual pathway. Although this syndrome is mostly associated with age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataract, it could be related to almost any other ophthalmological conditions. The incidence of CBS alongside with mostly other ocular pathology is rising as population is ageing. Nonetheless, CBS remains commonly underreported, under recognized and/or misrecognized. Albeit the treatment recommendations and guidelines are not yet fully established, it is important to raise awareness of this specific and distinct condition, which inevitably implicates many differential diagnostic deliberations.

The 5-HT2A/1A agonist psilocybin disrupts modal object completion associated with visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Kometer, Michael; Cahn, B Rael; Andel, David; Carter, Olivia L; Vollenweider, Franz X

2011-03-01

Recent findings suggest that the serotonergic system and particularly the 5-HT2A/1A receptors are implicated in visual processing and possibly the pathophysiology of visual disturbances including hallucinations in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. To investigate the role of 5-HT2A/1A receptors in visual processing the effect of the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A/1A agonist psilocybin (125 and 250 μg/kg vs. placebo) on the spatiotemporal dynamics of modal object completion was assessed in normal volunteers (n = 17) using visual evoked potential recordings in conjunction with topographic-mapping and source analysis. These effects were then considered in relation to the subjective intensity of psilocybin-induced visual hallucinations quantified by psychometric measurement. Psilocybin dose-dependently decreased the N170 and, in contrast, slightly enhanced the P1 component selectively over occipital electrode sites. The decrease of the N170 was most apparent during the processing of incomplete object figures. Moreover, during the time period of the N170, the overall reduction of the activation in the right extrastriate and posterior parietal areas correlated positively with the intensity of visual hallucinations. These results suggest a central role of the 5-HT2A/1A-receptors in the modulation of visual processing. Specifically, a reduced N170 component was identified as potentially reflecting a key process of 5-HT2A/1A receptor-mediated visual hallucinations and aberrant modal object completion potential. Copyright © 2011 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Activation of serotonin 2A receptors underlies the psilocybin-induced effects on α oscillations, N170 visual-evoked potentials, and visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Kometer, Michael; Schmidt, André; Jäncke, Lutz; Vollenweider, Franz X

2013-06-19

Visual illusions and hallucinations are hallmarks of serotonergic hallucinogen-induced altered states of consciousness. Although the serotonergic hallucinogen psilocybin activates multiple serotonin (5-HT) receptors, recent evidence suggests that activation of 5-HT2A receptors may lead to the formation of visual hallucinations by increasing cortical excitability and altering visual-evoked cortical responses. To address this hypothesis, we assessed the effects of psilocybin (215 μg/kg vs placebo) on both α oscillations that regulate cortical excitability and early visual-evoked P1 and N170 potentials in healthy human subjects. To further disentangle the specific contributions of 5-HT2A receptors, subjects were additionally pretreated with the preferential 5-HT2A receptor antagonist ketanserin (50 mg vs placebo). We found that psilocybin strongly decreased prestimulus parieto-occipital α power values, thus precluding a subsequent stimulus-induced α power decrease. Furthermore, psilocybin strongly decreased N170 potentials associated with the appearance of visual perceptual alterations, including visual hallucinations. All of these effects were blocked by pretreatment with the 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin, indicating that activation of 5-HT2A receptors by psilocybin profoundly modulates the neurophysiological and phenomenological indices of visual processing. Specifically, activation of 5-HT2A receptors may induce a processing mode in which stimulus-driven cortical excitation is overwhelmed by spontaneous neuronal excitation through the modulation of α oscillations. Furthermore, the observed reduction of N170 visual-evoked potentials may be a key mechanism underlying 5-HT2A receptor-mediated visual hallucinations. This change in N170 potentials may be important not only for psilocybin-induced states but also for understanding acute hallucinatory states seen in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.

Methylphenidate induction of complex visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Halevy, Ayelet; Shuper, Avinoam

2009-08-01

A 15-year-old boy with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) presented with complex visual hallucinations of rats running around and touching and smelling him soon after receiving a first low dose of methylphenidate. The hallucinations resolved upon discontinuation of the drug. Reintroduction of the drug 7 years later at an even lower dose had the same effect. Other cases of vivid complex hallucinations of living creatures associated with methylphenidate have been reported in the literature. The pathogenetic mechanism is still unknown. In our case, the occurrence of hallucinations after a very low dose of the drug on 2 occasions may suggest an idiosyncratic reaction. The phenomenon might also be explained by a drug-induced dysfunction of the monoamine transmitters. Given the wide use of methylphenidate, clinicians should be aware of this possible side effect.

Visual Hallucinations and Pontine Demyelination in a Child: Possible REM Dissociation?

PubMed Central

Vita, Maria Gabriella; Batocchi, Anna Paola; Dittoni, Serena; Losurdo, Anna; Cianfoni, Alessandro; Stefanini, Maria Chiara; Vollono, Catello; Marca, Giacomo Della; Mariotti, Paolo

2008-01-01

An 11 year-old-boy acutely developed complex visual and acoustic hallucinations. Hallucinations, consisting of visions of a threatening, evil character of the Harry Potter saga, persisted for 3 days. Neurological and psychiatric examinations were normal. Ictal EEG was negative. MRI documented 3 small areas of hyperintense signal in the brainstem, along the paramedian and lateral portions of pontine tegmentum, one of which showed post-contrast enhancement. These lesions were likely of inflammatory origin, and treatment with immunoglobulins was started. Polysomnography was normal, multiple sleep latency test showed a mean sleep latency of 8 minutes, with one sleep-onset REM period. The pontine tegmentum is responsible for REM sleep regulation, and contains definite “REM-on” and “REM-off” regions. The anatomical distribution of the lesions permits us to hypothesize that hallucinations in this boy were consequent to a transient impairment of REM sleep inhibitory mechanisms, with the appearance of dream-like hallucinations during wake. Citation: Vita MG; Batocchi AP; Dittoni S; Losurdo A; Cianfoni A; Stefanini MC; Vollono C; Della Marca G; Mariotti P. Visual hallucinations and pontine demyelination in a child: possible REM dissociation? J Clin Sleep Med 2008;4(6):588–590. PMID:19110890

Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder: Definitions of Attractiveness among African American and Caucasian Women

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

format. A “yes” response to any of the auditory hallucinations questions (i.e., have you ever heard voices ?; do frequently hear things that other...disorganized thought processes in the form of delusion, hallucinations (e.g., visual and auditory ). Such symptomotology may have inhibited the prospective...disorder or endorse auditory or visual hallucinations by responding “yes” to phone screen questions were excluded (see Appendix B, questions 14A, 14A1

A lightning strike to the head causing a visual cortex defect with simple and complex visual hallucinations

PubMed Central

Kleiter, Ingo; Luerding, Ralf; Diendorfer, Gerhard; Rek, Helga; Bogdahn, Ulrich; Schalke, Berthold

2007-01-01

The case of a 23‐year‐old mountaineer who was hit by a lightning strike to the occiput causing a large central visual field defect and bilateral tympanic membrane ruptures is described. Owing to extreme agitation, the patient was set to a drug‐induced coma for 3 days. After extubation, she experienced simple and complex visual hallucinations for several days, but otherwise recovered largely. Neuropsychological tests revealed deficits in fast visual detection tasks and non‐verbal learning, and indicated a right temporal lobe dysfunction, consistent with a right temporal focus on electroencephalography. Four months after the accident, she developed a psychological reaction consisting of nightmares with reappearance of the complex visual hallucinations and a depressive syndrome. Using the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection network, a meteorological system for lightning surveillance, the exact geographical location and nature of the lightning flash were retrospectively retraced. PMID:17369595

A lightning strike to the head causing a visual cortex defect with simple and complex visual hallucinations

PubMed Central

Kleiter, Ingo; Luerding, Ralf; Diendorfer, Gerhard; Rek, Helga; Bogdahn, Ulrich; Schalke, Berthold

2009-01-01

The case of a 23-year-old mountaineer who was hit by a lightning strike to the occiput causing a large central visual field defect and bilateral tympanic membrane ruptures is described. Owing to extreme agitation, the patient was sent into a drug-induced coma for 3 days. After extubation, she experienced simple and complex visual hallucinations for several days, but otherwise largely recovered. Neuropsychological tests revealed deficits in fast visual detection tasks and non-verbal learning and indicated a right temporal lobe dysfunction, consistent with a right temporal focus on electroencephalography. At 4 months after the accident, she developed a psychological reaction consisting of nightmares, with reappearance of the complex visual hallucinations and a depressive syndrome. Using the European Cooperation for Lightning Detection network, a meteorological system for lightning surveillance, the exact geographical location and nature of the lightning strike were retrospectively retraced PMID:21734915

Multi-Modal Hallucinations and Cognitive Function in Parkinson's Disease

PubMed Central

Katzen, Heather; Myerson, Connie; Papapetropoulos, Spiridon; Nahab, Fatta; Gallo, Bruno; Levin, Bonnie

2010-01-01

Background/Aims Hallucinations have been linked to a constellation of cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD), but it is not known whether multi-modal hallucinations are associated with greater neuropsychological dysfunction. Methods 152 idiopathic PD patients were categorized based on the presence or absence of hallucinations and then were further subdivided into visual-only (VHonly; n = 35) or multi-modal (VHplus; n = 12) hallucination groups. All participants underwent detailed neuropsychological assessment. Results Participants with hallucinations performed more poorly on select neuropsychological measures and exhibited more mood symptoms. There were no differences between VHonly and VHplus groups. Conclusions PD patients with multi-modal hallucinations are not at greater risk for neuropsychological impairment than those with single-modal hallucinations. PMID:20689283

Visual hallucinations and pontine demyelination in a child: possible REM dissociation?

PubMed

Vita, Maria Gabriella; Batocchi, Anna Paola; Dittoni, Serena; Losurdo, Anna; Cianfoni, Alessandro; Stefanini, Maria Chiara; Vollono, Catello; Della Marca, Giacomo; Mariotti, Paolo

2008-12-15

An 11 year-old-boy acutely developed complex visual and acoustic hallucinations. Hallucinations, consisting of visions of a threatening, evil character of the Harry Potter saga, persisted for 3 days. Neurological and psychiatric examinations were normal. Ictal EEG was negative. MRI documented 3 small areas of hyperintense signal in the brainstem, along the paramedian and lateral portions of pontine tegmentum, one of which showed post-contrast enhancement. These lesions were likely of inflammatory origin, and treatment with immunoglobulins was started. Polysomnography was normal, multiple sleep latency test showed a mean sleep latency of 8 minutes, with one sleep-onset REM period. The pontine tegmentum is responsible for REM sleep regulation, and contains definite "REM-on" and "REM-off" regions. The anatomical distribution of the lesions permits us to hypothesize that hallucinations in this boy were consequent to a transient impairment of REM sleep inhibitory mechanisms, with the appearance of dream-like hallucinations during wake.

Auditory hallucinations in adults with hearing impairment: a large prevalence study.

PubMed

Linszen, M M J; van Zanten, G A; Teunisse, R J; Brouwer, R M; Scheltens, P; Sommer, I E

2018-03-20

Similar to visual hallucinations in visually impaired patients, auditory hallucinations are often suggested to occur in adults with hearing impairment. However, research on this association is limited. This observational, cross-sectional study tested whether auditory hallucinations are associated with hearing impairment, by assessing their prevalence in an adult population with various degrees of objectified hearing impairment. Hallucination presence was determined in 1007 subjects aged 18-92, who were referred for audiometric testing to the Department of ENT-Audiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands. The presence and severity of hearing impairment were calculated using mean air conduction thresholds from the most recent pure tone audiometry. Out of 829 participants with hearing impairment, 16.2% (n = 134) had experienced auditory hallucinations in the past 4 weeks; significantly more than the non-impaired group [5.8%; n = 10/173; p < 0.001, odds ratio 3.2 (95% confidence interval 1.6-6.2)]. Prevalence of auditory hallucinations significantly increased with categorized severity of impairment, with rates up to 24% in the most profoundly impaired group (p < 0.001). The corrected odds of hallucination presence increased 1.02 times for each dB of impairment in the best ear. Auditory hallucinations mostly consisted of voices (51%), music (36%), and doorbells or telephones (24%). Our findings reveal that auditory hallucinations are common among patients with hearing impairment, and increase with impairment severity. Although more research on potential confounding factors is necessary, clinicians should be aware of this phenomenon, by inquiring after hallucinations in hearing-impaired patients and, conversely, assessing hearing impairment in patients with auditory hallucinations, since it may be a treatable factor.

Acute LSD effects on response inhibition neural networks.

PubMed

Schmidt, A; Müller, F; Lenz, C; Dolder, P C; Schmid, Y; Zanchi, D; Lang, U E; Liechti, M E; Borgwardt, S

2017-10-02

Recent evidence shows that the serotonin 2A receptor (5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptor, 5-HT2AR) is critically involved in the formation of visual hallucinations and cognitive impairments in lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)-induced states and neuropsychiatric diseases. However, the interaction between 5-HT2AR activation, cognitive impairments and visual hallucinations is still poorly understood. This study explored the effect of 5-HT2AR activation on response inhibition neural networks in healthy subjects by using LSD and further tested whether brain activation during response inhibition under LSD exposure was related to LSD-induced visual hallucinations. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, LSD (100 µg) and placebo were administered to 18 healthy subjects. Response inhibition was assessed using a functional magnetic resonance imaging Go/No-Go task. LSD-induced visual hallucinations were measured using the 5 Dimensions of Altered States of Consciousness (5D-ASC) questionnaire. Relative to placebo, LSD administration impaired inhibitory performance and reduced brain activation in the right middle temporal gyrus, superior/middle/inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex and in the left superior frontal and postcentral gyrus and cerebellum. Parahippocampal activation during response inhibition was differently related to inhibitory performance after placebo and LSD administration. Finally, activation in the left superior frontal gyrus under LSD exposure was negatively related to LSD-induced cognitive impairments and visual imagery. Our findings show that 5-HT2AR activation by LSD leads to a hippocampal-prefrontal cortex-mediated breakdown of inhibitory processing, which might subsequently promote the formation of LSD-induced visual imageries. These findings help to better understand the neuropsychopharmacological mechanisms of visual hallucinations in LSD-induced states and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Is Seeing Believing? The Process of Change During Cognitive-behavioural Therapy for Distressing Visual Hallucinations.

PubMed

Wilson, Rea; Collerton, Daniel; Freeston, Mark; Christodoulides, Thomas; Dudley, Robert

2016-07-01

People with psychosis often report distressing visual hallucinations (VH). In contrast to auditory hallucinations, there is little empirical evidence on effective interventions. The effectiveness of a novel-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for VH was explored using a multiple baseline single case design with four participants. Change to individual appraisals, emotional and behavioural responses to VH were measured with daily diaries kept throughout the baseline and intervention phase lasting up to 16 sessions. Maintenance of change was tracked during a follow-up period of one month. Changes in appraisals, distress and response in accordance with the theory was evident in two out of four of the cases. However, change occurred within the baseline phase that limited the conclusions that change could be attributed to CBT alone. There was some evidence of clinically significant change and reliable change for two out of four of the cases at follow-up on one of the standardized psychiatric assessments. The research reported here has theoretical and clinical implications for refinement of the model and interventions for distressing VH. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Distressing visual hallucinations (VH) are a relatively common symptom of psychosis. Visual hallucinations seem to be associated with greater impairment and disability. We have no specific treatment for VH. The appraisal of the visual experience and the behavioural response is important in maintaining the distress. Cognitive-behavioural therapy for VH at present has limited value. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Education about Hallucinations Using an Internet Virtual Reality System: A Qualitative Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yellowlees, Peter M.; Cook, James N.

2006-01-01

Objective: The authors evaluate an Internet virtual reality technology as an education tool about the hallucinations of psychosis. Method: This is a pilot project using Second Life, an Internet-based virtual reality system, in which a virtual reality environment was constructed to simulate the auditory and visual hallucinations of two patients…

Neuropsychiatry of complex visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Mocellin, Ramon; Walterfang, Mark; Velakoulis, Dennis

2006-09-01

To describe the phenomenology and pathophysiology of complex visual hallucinations (CVH) in various organic states, in particular Charles Bonnet syndrome and peduncular hallucinosis. Three cases of CVH in the setting of pontine infarction, thalamic infarction and temporoparietal epileptiform activity are presented and the available psychiatric, neurological and biological literature on the structures of the central nervous system involved in producing hallucinatory states is reviewed. Complex visual hallucinations can arise from a variety of processes involving the retinogeniculocalcarine tract, or ascending brainstem modulatory structures. The cortical activity responsible for hallucinations results from altered or reduced input into these regions, or a loss of ascending inhibition of their afferent pathways. A significant degree of overlaps exists between the concepts of Charles Bonnet syndrome and peduncular hallucinosis. The fluidity of these eponymous syndromes reduces their validity and meaning, and may result in an inappropriate attribution of the underlying pathology. An understanding of how differing pathologies may produce CVH allows for the appropriate tailoring of treatment, depending on the site and nature of the lesion and content of perceptual disturbance.

Sleep Loss Effects on Continuous Sustained Performance.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-11-30

Sleep loss, continuous performance, sustained performance, sleep deprivation, sleepiness, fatigue, circadian rhythm, hallucination . 20, ABSTRACT...complete the 42 hours and 9 experienced "psychological events such as hallucinations , visual illusions, and disorientation. Of the 20 subjects who... hallucinations , derealizations, and distortions (Mullaney, Kripke, and Fleck, 1981). All 20 subjects who were given either one 6-hour or six 1-hour

A young woman with visual hallucinations, delusions of persecution and a history of performing arson with possible three-generation Fahr disease.

PubMed

Shirahama, M; Akiyoshi, J; Ishitobi, Y; Tanaka, Y; Tsuru, J; Matsushita, H; Hanada, H; Kodama, K

2010-01-01

Fahr disease (FD) is a rare neurological and psychiatric disorder. The disease is classified by intracranial calcification of the basal ganglia with the globus pallidus region being particularly affected. We examined a young woman with visual hallucinations, delusions of persecution and a history of performing arson with possible third-generation FD. Case report of third-generation FD. A 23-year-old woman was arrested for two arsons: i) The patient exhibited progressive psychotic symptoms, including visual hallucinations, delusion of injury, irritability, lability of mood, mental retardation and visual disorders and ii) Computed tomography (CT) imaging demonstrated bilateral calcifications of the basal ganglia (globus pallidus) in the patient, her mother and her grandmother. We found a family with a three-generation history of FD who exhibited calcification in the brain and mental retardation. Compared to her mother, the patient described here displayed anticipation of disease onset.

[Influencing factors of visual hallucinations in patients with Parkinson's disease and its relationship with sleep disorders].

PubMed

Wu, D D; Li, S H; Jin, L Y; Jin, Y; Cui, Y Y; Zhao, H; Liu, H J; Ma, X X; Su, W; Chen, H B

2016-04-05

To investigate the prevalence and influencing factors of visual hallucinations in patients with Parkinson's disease(PD), and to analyze the relationship between visual hallucinations and sleep disorders. We recruited 187 patients with PD(H-Y Ⅰ-Ⅲ) from outpatient department in Beijing Hospital. The patients were investigated for general information and the use of medicine. The patients were divided into visual hallucination(VH) group and non-hallucination(non-VH) group. A comparison study was conducted between two groups. We investigated the sleep disorders of PD patients according to Non Motor Symptom Quest(NMSquest) and Parkinson's disease sleep scale(PDSS). Logistic stepwise multiple regression procedures were used to determine the best predictive model of visual hallucinations in patients with PD. (1) 42 cases(22.5%) of PD patients were accompanied by visual hallucinations; (2) the VH group and non-VH group had no difference in age, sex, duration of illness, the scores of Minimum Mental State Examination(MMSE) and levodopa equivalent doses (LED). The scores of Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale(UPDRS) Ⅰ, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety(HAMA) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression(HAMD) in VH group were significantly higher than those in non-VH group[3.5(2, 5) vs 2 (1, 3); 10(6.75, 15) vs 8(5, 11); 11(7.75, 17) vs 9(5, 13); P<0.05]; (3) the incidences of vivid dreams and REM sleep behavior disorder(RBD) in VH group were significantly higher than those in non-VH group(61.9% vs 40.7%, 71.4% vs 47.6%, P<0.05). There were no significant differences in incidences of excessive daytime sleepiness and restless legs between two groups(P>0.05). The score of PDSS in VH group was significantly lower than that in non-VH group[111(92.75, 128.25) vs 123(109, 135), P<0.05]; (4) the Logistic stepwise multiple regression revealed that vivid dreams(P=0.045) and the score of PDSS(P=0.006) were the independent influencing factors for VH in PD patients. The incidence of VH in PD with H-Y staging Ⅰ-Ⅱ is 22.5%. The presence of vivid dreams and severe sleep disorder are independently associated with VH in PD.

[Current peculiarities of alcoholic psychosis].

PubMed

Aleksin, D S; Egorov, A Iu

2011-01-01

The follow-up study of alcoholic psychoses in male patients admitted to a clinical department of a psychiatric hospital in 2005-2007 was carried out. Patients with alcoholic psychoses made up from 15 to 30% of all patients. The number of psychosis had seasonal variations with the elevations in spring and autumn, peaks in January, lune and October. Alcoholic delirium morbidity made up from 69 to 82% of the total number of alcoholic psychoses, alcoholic hallucinosis varied from 14 to 27%. Other forms were presented by single cases. In alcoholic delirium hallucinations had brighter, sated character. The most specific were visual hallucinations in the form of zoohallucinations, hallucinations of an oral cavity ("sensation of threads, hair etc"). The most often observable characters were "extraneous people, animal, demons". In alcoholic hallucinosis, verbal contrast hallucinations, making comment hallucinations, visual illusions were most frequent. The family history of mental disorders and alcoholism was noted in 30% of patients with alcoholic psychosis. The probability of occurrence of alcoholic psychoses depended on the quality of consumed drinks. The presence of a cranial-brain injury in the anamnesis considerably aggravated the disease forecast and increased the risk of seizure syndrome.

Determinants of occurrence and recovery from hallucinations in daily life.

PubMed

Delespaul, Philippe; deVries, Marten; van Os, Jim

2002-03-01

Data related to the dynamics of hallucinatory experiences of patients suffering from schizophrenia are scarce. Detecting antecedent conditions and coping strategies may aid development of targeted psychological interventions. We studied hallucinating and non-hallucinating patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 57), and non-schizophrenic severe mentally ill patients with depression (n = 37). Data were collected using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) over a period of 1 week. Contingent on a randomly signalling beep, subjects filled in reports of ongoing hallucinations as well as thought, mood, current activity, social circumstances and places frequented. More subjects suffering from schizophrenia reported hallucinations, but for all hallucinating subjects the qualities of hallucination episodes were quite similar. More subjects reported visual hallucinations at least once. In contrast, the intensity of auditory hallucinations was higher. Anxiety was the most prominent emotion during hallucinations and reports of anxiety intensity exceeded baseline levels before the first report of auditory hallucinations. Context modified hallucination intensity over the course of an episode. Social withdrawal resulted in a decrease of hallucinatory intensity (AH > VH), while social engagement slightly raised intensity levels (VH > AH). Doing nothing (VH > AH) and work activities (AH > VH) led to decreases in intensity levels over time, while passive leisure activities (watching TV) resulted in increases in intensity levels of hallucinations (AH > VH). The results suggest that hallucinating experiences are subject to a host of contextual influences. Understanding variation offers useful insights for therapy.

Possible role of biochemiluminescent photons for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)-induced phosphenes and visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Kapócs, Gábor; Scholkmann, Felix; Salari, Vahid; Császár, Noémi; Szőke, Henrik; Bókkon, István

2017-01-01

Today, there is an increased interest in research on lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) because it may offer new opportunities in psychotherapy under controlled settings. The more we know about how a drug works in the brain, the more opportunities there will be to exploit it in medicine. Here, based on our previously published papers and investigations, we suggest that LSD-induced visual hallucinations/phosphenes may be due to the transient enhancement of bioluminescent photons in the early retinotopic visual system in blind as well as healthy people.

Hallucination: A rare complication of levetiracetam theraphy.

PubMed

Erdogan, Seher; Bosnak, Mehmet

2017-01-01

Levetiracetam is a new antiepileptic drug. In addition to epilepsy, it is also used for treating anxiety disorders and dystonia as well as tardive dyskinesia associated with the use of levodopa and neuroleptic drugs. Phenytoin therapy in a 10-year-old boy with convulsions was discontinued following cardiac rhythm impairment. The patient was then started on levetiracetam. However, visual and auditory hallucinations were observed on the 1st day of levetiracetam therapy. Levetiracetam was discontinued and replaced with sodium valproate, and the hallucinations resolved. The purpose of this report was to remind physicians that hallucinations are one of the rare complications of levetiracetam.

Psychopathological and demographic characteristics of hallucinating patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder: an analysis based on AMDP data.

PubMed

Baethge, Christopher; Jänner, Michaela; Gaebel, Wolfgang; Malevani, Jaroslav

2017-06-01

Hallucinations are at the core of the diagnosis of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders, and many neuroscience studies focus on hallucinations. However, there is a lack of data on prevalence, subtyping, and clinical correlates of hallucinations as well as on the comparison of hallucinating schizophrenia versus hallucinating schizoaffective patients. Analysis of all psychopathology evaluations is based on the AMDP scale in a German psychiatric university hospital between 2007 and 2013 regarding patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (diagnosed according to ICD-10). Hallucinating versus non-hallucinating patients and age- and gender-matched hallucinating schizophrenic versus schizoaffective patients were compared with regard to key psychopathological and demographic characteristics. Relative to patients with schizoaffective disorder, patients with schizophrenia more often hallucinated at admission (36.6 vs. 16.2 %, RR: 2.3, p < 0.001). By subtype, frequency of hallucinations ranked auditory verbal > other auditory > visual > somatic/tactile > olfactory/gustatory. Hallucinating patients of either disorder were more often affected with respect to delusions (83 vs. 62 % and 81 vs. 48 % among patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, respectively [both p < 0.0001]) and anxiety. Hallucinating patients with schizoaffective disorder did not differ from hallucinating patients with schizophrenia. This is one of the few studies providing data on hallucinations in a routine clinical care setting. Hallucinations are a sign and likely a cause of greater illness severity. Patients with schizoaffective disorder less often experience hallucinations than patients with schizophrenia, but if they do, they seem to resemble patients with schizophrenia with regard to illness severity.

Hallucination: A rare complication of levetiracetam theraphy

PubMed Central

Erdogan, Seher; Bosnak, Mehmet

2017-01-01

Levetiracetam is a new antiepileptic drug. In addition to epilepsy, it is also used for treating anxiety disorders and dystonia as well as tardive dyskinesia associated with the use of levodopa and neuroleptic drugs. Phenytoin therapy in a 10-year-old boy with convulsions was discontinued following cardiac rhythm impairment. The patient was then started on levetiracetam. However, visual and auditory hallucinations were observed on the 1st day of levetiracetam therapy. Levetiracetam was discontinued and replaced with sodium valproate, and the hallucinations resolved. The purpose of this report was to remind physicians that hallucinations are one of the rare complications of levetiracetam. PMID:29270577

A case of persistent visual hallucinations of faces following LSD abuse: a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging study.

PubMed

Iaria, Giuseppe; Fox, Christopher J; Scheel, Michael; Stowe, Robert M; Barton, Jason J S

2010-04-01

In this study, we report the case of a patient experiencing hallucinations of faces that could be reliably precipitated by looking at trees. Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we found that face hallucinations were associated with increased and decreased neural activity in a number of cortical regions. Within the same fusiform face area, however, we found significant decreased and increased neural activity according to whether the patient was experiencing hallucinations or veridical perception of faces, respectively. These findings may indicate key differences in how hallucinatory and veridical perceptions lead to the same phenomenological experience of seeing faces.

Hallucinatory Experience: A Personal Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldstein, Alvin G.

1976-01-01

A nonpsychotic experimental psychologist presents a self-report of several highly organized visual, auditory, and kinesthetic hallucinations that occurred during a 3-day period prior to spinal disc surgery. Probable factors related to the production of the phenomena are described and the relation between hallucination and diagnosis is briefly…

Why people see things that are not there: a novel Perception and Attention Deficit model for recurrent complex visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Collerton, Daniel; Perry, Elaine; McKeith, Ian

2005-12-01

As many as two million people in the United Kingdom repeatedly see people, animals, and objects that have no objective reality. Hallucinations on the border of sleep, dementing illnesses, delirium, eye disease, and schizophrenia account for 90% of these. The remainder have rarer disorders. We review existing models of recurrent complex visual hallucinations (RCVH) in the awake person, including cortical irritation, cortical hyperexcitability and cortical release, top-down activation, misperception, dream intrusion, and interactive models. We provide evidence that these can neither fully account for the phenomenology of RCVH, nor for variations in the frequency of RCVH in different disorders. We propose a novel Perception and Attention Deficit (PAD) model for RCVH. A combination of impaired attentional binding and poor sensory activation of a correct proto-object, in conjunction with a relatively intact scene representation, bias perception to allow the intrusion of a hallucinatory proto-object into a scene perception. Incorporation of this image into a context-specific hallucinatory scene representation accounts for repetitive hallucinations. We suggest that these impairments are underpinned by disturbances in a lateral frontal cortex-ventral visual stream system. We show how the frequency of RCVH in different diseases is related to the coexistence of attentional and visual perceptual impairments; how attentional and perceptual processes can account for their phenomenology; and that diseases and other states with high rates of RCVH have cholinergic dysfunction in both frontal cortex and the ventral visual stream. Several tests of the model are indicated, together with a number of treatment options that it generates.

[The turn of the screw: complex visual hallucinations in the Henry James' novel].

PubMed

Alvaro, L C; Martín Del Burgo, A

2002-03-01

The turn of the screw is one of the most celebrated stories by Henry James. It is also a top writing within the so-called fantastic literature, whose narrative strength comes from the intermittent visions suffered by the main character. The vividness and dramatic content that represent the firstly unidentified human figures, that moreover recur as brief, stereotyped and fragmentary images, are constitutive of complex visual hallucinations. These characteristics, alongside acute premonitory symptoms such as emotional changes (fear, anxiety) or altered thinking (forced, "dejà vu", "jamais vu"), and the final altered awareness or loss of consciousness, allow us to infer an epileptic nature of the ten episodes described. Postictal psychosis, that follows a lucid interval and may last up to the several weeks encompassed by the story, would account for the paranoia featured, in the setting of a temporal lobe epilepsy. The accurate descriptions prompted us to search for autobiographical, scientific or literary influences: The alcoholism and visual hallucinations suffered by his father, the knowledge on hallucinations provided by his brother Williams on his paramount and former The Principles of Psychology, and an early devotion to Poe's writings, an epileptic himself with excellent descriptions of seizures in his writings, might have enabled the author to perform his story with such a hallmark of neurological details.

Minds on replay: musical hallucinations and their relationship to neurological disease.

PubMed

Golden, Erin C; Josephs, Keith A

2015-12-01

The phenomenon of musical hallucinations, in which individuals perceive music in the absence of an external auditory stimulus, has been described sparingly in the literature through small case reports and series. Musical hallucinations have been linked to multiple associated conditions, including psychiatric and neurologic disease, brain lesions, drug effect, and hearing impairment. This study aimed to review the demographics of subjects with musical hallucinations and to determine the prevalence of neurological disorders, particularly neurodegenerative disease. Through the Mayo medical record, 393 subjects with musical hallucinations were identified and divided into five categories based on comorbid conditions that have been associated with musical hallucinations: neurological, psychiatric, structural, drug effect and not otherwise classifiable. Variables, including hearing impairment and the presence of visual and other auditory hallucinations, were evaluated independently in all five groups. The mean age at onset of the hallucinations was 56 years, ranging from 18 to 98 years, and 65.4% of the subjects were female. Neurological disease and focal brain lesions were found in 25% and 9% of the total subjects, respectively. Sixty-five subjects were identified with a neurodegenerative disorder, with the Lewy body disorders being the most common. Visual hallucinations were more common in the group with neurological disease compared to the psychiatric, structural, and not otherwise classifiable groups (P < 0.001), whereas auditory hallucinations were more common in the psychiatric group compared to all other groups (P < 0.001). Structural lesions associated with musical hallucinations involved both hemispheres with a preference towards the left, and all but two included the temporal lobe. Hearing impairment was common, particularly in the not otherwise classifiable category where 67.2% had documented hearing impairment, more than in any other group (P < 0.001). Those with an underlying neurodegenerative disorder or isolated hearing impairment tended to hear more persistent music, which was often religious and patriotic compared to those with a structural lesion, where more modern music was heard, and those with psychiatric disorders where music was mood-congruent. This case series shows that musical hallucinations can occur in association with a wide variety of conditions, of which neurological disease and brain lesions represent a substantial proportion, and that Lewy body disorders are the most commonly associated neurodegenerative diseases. A future prospective study would be helpful to further delineate an association between musical hallucinations and neurodegenerative disease. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Migraine with Aura

MedlinePlus

... processes visual signals (visual cortex) and causes these visual hallucinations. Many of the same factors that trigger migraine can also trigger migraine with aura, including stress, bright lights, some foods and medications, too much or too little sleep, ...

Voriconazole-induced musical hallucinations.

PubMed

Agrawal, A K; Sherman, L K

2004-10-01

1 Voriconazole (Vfend) is a second-generation azole antifungal that is increasing in popularity especially for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis as well as empirically for the febrile neutropenic patient. In addition, voriconazole tends to have a mild side effect profile with reversible visual disturbances being the most widely described effect. We describe a patient who had musical hallucinations secondary to voriconazole. The patient was a 78-year-old man admitted for induction of chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) who began to have auditory hallucinations, specifically of Christmas music, the 2nd day of voriconazole therapy. His psychiatric evaluation was otherwise unremarkable. After discontinuing voriconazole the hallucinations decreased in intensity by the 2nd day and ceased altogether by the 3rd day. An extensive literature search, including Pfizer drug trial safety data, yielded no other reports of auditory hallucinations with voriconazole. Several other interesting cases of musical hallucinations secondary to a variety of causes have been reported in the literature, and are reviewed. Notably, musical hallucinations tend to occur secondary to temporal lobe insults and often are of a religious or patriotic theme.

Psychopatho-ophthalmology, gnostic disorders, and psychosis in cardiac surgery. Visual disturbances after open heart surgery.

PubMed

Meyendorf, R

1982-01-01

The visual disturbances of 45 patients following open heart surgery could be divided into disturbances of (1) visual acuity, (2) visual accuracy, and (3) visual reality testing. The non-hallucinatory phenomena consisted mainly of loss of colour vision, metamorphopsias, visual gnostic disorders and cortical blindness. The hallucinatory phenomena could be divided into the delirium type of hallucinations with clouding of consciousness and the spectator type of hallucinations with a clear sensorium. The causes of the visual symptomatology and cardiac psychoses are seen in microembolization and/or ischemic hypoxia. The basal ganglia and the occipital lobe are areas of predilection for embolic and hypoxic changes. Identical psychoses also occur in cerebral malaria and polycythemia vera which show the same embolic and anoxic neuropathological changes of vascular occlusion as do many patients who die following open heart surgery with extracorporal circulation.

Visual dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease

PubMed Central

Weil, Rimona S.; Schrag, Anette E.; Warren, Jason D.; Crutch, Sebastian J.; Lees, Andrew J.; Morris, Huw R.

2016-01-01

Patients with Parkinson’s disease have a number of specific visual disturbances. These include changes in colour vision and contrast sensitivity and difficulties with complex visual tasks such as mental rotation and emotion recognition. We review changes in visual function at each stage of visual processing from retinal deficits, including contrast sensitivity and colour vision deficits to higher cortical processing impairments such as object and motion processing and neglect. We consider changes in visual function in patients with common Parkinson’s disease-associated genetic mutations including GBA and LRRK2. We discuss the association between visual deficits and clinical features of Parkinson’s disease such as rapid eye movement sleep behavioural disorder and the postural instability and gait disorder phenotype. We review the link between abnormal visual function and visual hallucinations, considering current models for mechanisms of visual hallucinations. Finally, we discuss the role of visuo-perceptual testing as a biomarker of disease and predictor of dementia in Parkinson’s disease. PMID:27412389

Ictal visual hallucinations due to frontal lobe epilepsy in a patient with bipolar disorder☆

PubMed Central

Manfioli, Valeria; Saladini, Marina; Cagnin, Annachiara

2013-01-01

In ictal psychosis with complex visual hallucinations (VHs), widespread functional changes of cortical networks have been suggested. We describe the clinical and EEG findings of a patient with bipolar disorder who manifested complex VHs associated with intense emotional symptoms caused by frontal epileptic seizures. This description highlights the challenges of diagnosing the epileptic nature of new psychotic phenomena in patients with previous psychiatric disorders and shines light into the role of the frontal cortex in the genesis of complex VHs. PMID:25667849

Structural Alteration of the Dorsal Visual Network in DLB Patients with Visual Hallucinations: A Cortical Thickness MRI Study

PubMed Central

Delli Pizzi, Stefano; Franciotti, Raffaella; Tartaro, Armando; Caulo, Massimo; Thomas, Astrid; Onofrj, Marco; Bonanni, Laura

2014-01-01

Visual hallucinations (VH) represent one of the core features in discriminating dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Previous studies reported that in DLB patients functional alterations of the parieto-occipital regions were correlated with the presence of VH. The aim of our study was to assess whether morphological changes in specific cortical regions of DLB could be related to the presence and severity of VH. We performed a cortical thickness analysis on magnetic resonance imaging data in a cohort including 18 DLB patients, 15 AD patients and 14 healthy control subjects. Relatively to DLB group, correlation analysis between the cortical thickness and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) hallucination item scores was also performed. Cortical thickness was reduced bilaterally in DLB compared to controls in the pericalcarine and lingual gyri, cuneus, precuneus, superior parietal gyrus. Cortical thinning was found bilaterally in AD compared to controls in temporal cortex including the superior and middle temporal gyrus, part of inferior temporal cortex, temporal pole and insula. Inferior parietal and supramarginal gyri were also affected bilaterally in AD as compared to controls. The comparison between DLB and AD evidenced cortical thinning in DLB group in the right posterior regions including superior parietal gyrus, precuneus, cuneus, pericalcarine and lingual gyri. Furthermore, the correlation analysis between cortical thickness and NPI hallucination item scores showed that the structural alteration in the dorsal visual regions including superior parietal gyrus and precuneus closely correlated with the occurrence and severity of VH. We suggest that structural changes in key regions of the dorsal visual network may play a crucial role in the physiopathology of VH in DLB patients. PMID:24466177

Hallucinations: A Systematic Review of Points of Similarity and Difference Across Diagnostic Classes

PubMed Central

Waters, Flavie; Fernyhough, Charles

2017-01-01

Hallucinations constitute one of the 5 symptom domains of psychotic disorders in DSM-5, suggesting diagnostic significance for that group of disorders. Although specific featural properties of hallucinations (negative voices, talking in the third person, and location in external space) are no longer highlighted in DSM, there is likely a residual assumption that hallucinations in schizophrenia can be identified based on these candidate features. We investigated whether certain featural properties of hallucinations are specifically indicative of schizophrenia by conducting a systematic review of studies showing direct comparisons of the featural and clinical characteristics of (auditory and visual) hallucinations among 2 or more population groups (one of which included schizophrenia). A total of 43 articles were reviewed, which included hallucinations in 4 major groups (nonclinical groups, drug- and alcohol-related conditions, medical and neurological conditions, and psychiatric disorders). The results showed that no single hallucination feature or characteristic uniquely indicated a diagnosis of schizophrenia, with the sole exception of an age of onset in late adolescence. Among the 21 features of hallucinations in schizophrenia considered here, 95% were shared with other psychiatric disorders, 85% with medical/neurological conditions, 66% with drugs and alcohol conditions, and 52% with the nonclinical groups. Additional differences rendered the nonclinical groups somewhat distinctive from clinical disorders. Overall, when considering hallucinations, it is inadvisable to give weight to the presence of any featural properties alone in making a schizophrenia diagnosis. It is more important to focus instead on the co-occurrence of other symptoms and the value of hallucinations as an indicator of vulnerability. PMID:27872259

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations during amitriptyline treatment.

PubMed

Hemmingsen, R; Rafaelsen, O J

1980-10-01

Four cases of hypnagogic or hypnopompic visual hallucinations in patients during amitriptyline treatment are reported. The hallucinations were clearly delineated, projected to the outer objective space and were for a short time experienced as real. The patients rapidly realized the unreality of the "sights", probably because they regained the full criticism and coherent thinking of an unpsychotic awake individual. There may be a relation between the effects of amitriptyline in brain, the changed pattern of sleep and the clinical recovery. Patients should be informed about the benign character of this type of hallucinatory phenomena so that treatment is not terminated at an undue time.

Hallucinations: A Systematic Review of Points of Similarity and Difference Across Diagnostic Classes.

PubMed

Waters, Flavie; Fernyhough, Charles

2017-01-01

Hallucinations constitute one of the 5 symptom domains of psychotic disorders in DSM-5, suggesting diagnostic significance for that group of disorders. Although specific featural properties of hallucinations (negative voices, talking in the third person, and location in external space) are no longer highlighted in DSM, there is likely a residual assumption that hallucinations in schizophrenia can be identified based on these candidate features. We investigated whether certain featural properties of hallucinations are specifically indicative of schizophrenia by conducting a systematic review of studies showing direct comparisons of the featural and clinical characteristics of (auditory and visual) hallucinations among 2 or more population groups (one of which included schizophrenia). A total of 43 articles were reviewed, which included hallucinations in 4 major groups (nonclinical groups, drug- and alcohol-related conditions, medical and neurological conditions, and psychiatric disorders). The results showed that no single hallucination feature or characteristic uniquely indicated a diagnosis of schizophrenia, with the sole exception of an age of onset in late adolescence. Among the 21 features of hallucinations in schizophrenia considered here, 95% were shared with other psychiatric disorders, 85% with medical/neurological conditions, 66% with drugs and alcohol conditions, and 52% with the nonclinical groups. Additional differences rendered the nonclinical groups somewhat distinctive from clinical disorders. Overall, when considering hallucinations, it is inadvisable to give weight to the presence of any featural properties alone in making a schizophrenia diagnosis. It is more important to focus instead on the co-occurrence of other symptoms and the value of hallucinations as an indicator of vulnerability. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

[Delusional parasitosis associated with dialysis treated with aripiprazole].

PubMed

Duarte, Carlos; Choi, Ka Man; Li, Chiu Leong

2011-01-01

We report the case of a 75-year-old Chinese lady that presented delusional parasitosis with visual hallucinations four months after starting peritoneal dialysis. This psychosis is characterized by the persistent and unshakable belief of being infested with small living organisms, although there is no medical evidence for this. The patient had no previous history of psychiatric disorders, presented diminished visual acuity due to cataracts and macular degeneration, did not show cognitive deterioration, and was medicated with erythropoietin. During the course of the psychosis she presented an episode of visual hallucinations possibly related to Charles Bonnet syndrome. After two months of treatment with aripiprazole the psychotic symptoms remitted considerably. Aripiprazole is a neuroleptic to consider in the treatment of delusional parasitosis.

The prevalence of visual hallucinations in non-affective psychosis, and the role of perception and attention.

PubMed

van Ommen, M M; van Beilen, M; Cornelissen, F W; Smid, H G O M; Knegtering, H; Aleman, A; van Laar, T

2016-06-01

Little is known about visual hallucinations (VH) in psychosis. We investigated the prevalence and the role of bottom-up and top-down processing in VH. The prevailing view is that VH are probably related to altered top-down processing, rather than to distorted bottom-up processing. Conversely, VH in Parkinson's disease are associated with impaired visual perception and attention, as proposed by the Perception and Attention Deficit (PAD) model. Auditory hallucinations (AH) in psychosis, however, are thought to be related to increased attention. Our retrospective database study included 1119 patients with non-affective psychosis and 586 controls. The Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences established the VH rate. Scores on visual perception tests [Degraded Facial Affect Recognition (DFAR), Benton Facial Recognition Task] and attention tests [Response Set-shifting Task, Continuous Performance Test-HQ (CPT-HQ)] were compared between 75 VH patients, 706 non-VH patients and 485 non-VH controls. The lifetime VH rate was 37%. The patient groups performed similarly on cognitive tasks; both groups showed worse perception (DFAR) than controls. Non-VH patients showed worse attention (CPT-HQ) than controls, whereas VH patients did not perform differently. We did not find significant VH-related impairments in bottom-up processing or direct top-down alterations. However, the results suggest a relatively spared attentional performance in VH patients, whereas face perception and processing speed were equally impaired in both patient groups relative to controls. This would match better with the increased attention hypothesis than with the PAD model. Our finding that VH frequently co-occur with AH may support an increased attention-induced 'hallucination proneness'.

Risk factors for falls in community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies: walking with visuocognitive impairment may cause a fall.

PubMed

Kudo, Yuri; Imamura, Toru; Sato, Atsushi; Endo, Naoto

2009-01-01

To identify risk factors for falls in community-dwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). 78 consecutive patients (51 AD, 27 DLB) were recruited from the Niigata Rehabilitation Hospital memory clinic. We assessed the number of falls each patient had had in the previous 4 months. The data for DLB patients without motor parkinsonism were analyzed both as part of the whole DLB group and separately to determine the effect of parkinsonism alone on falls. Of 78 patients, 17 (21.8%) reported at least 1 fall during the period. A diagnosis of DLB, visual hallucinations, parkinsonism and cognitive fluctuation were significant predictors, but none of them was significant in the stepwise multivariate analysis. After excluding patients with parkinsonism, the use of hypnotics-anxiolytics and a worse score on the constructional task were significant and independent predictors of falling. Parkinsonism was a major risk factor for falls. When AD or DLB patients walk with incongruent visual information, they may increase their postural sway or instability, because of their executive dysfunction. If elementary and/or higher-order visuocognitive impairment in AD or DLB patients alters visual information sufficiently, they may fall when walking. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Visual hallucinations are associated with hyperconnectivity between the amygdala and visual cortex in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

PubMed

Ford, Judith M; Palzes, Vanessa A; Roach, Brian J; Potkin, Steven G; van Erp, Theo G M; Turner, Jessica A; Mueller, Bryon A; Calhoun, Vincent D; Voyvodic, Jim; Belger, Aysenil; Bustillo, Juan; Vaidya, Jatin G; Preda, Adrian; McEwen, Sarah C; Mathalon, Daniel H

2015-01-01

While auditory verbal hallucinations (AH) are a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia, people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (SZ) may also experience visual hallucinations (VH). In a retrospective analysis of a large sample of SZ and healthy controls (HC) studied as part of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN), we asked if SZ who endorsed experiencing VH during clinical interviews had greater connectivity between visual cortex and limbic structures than SZ who did not endorse experiencing VH. We analyzed resting state fMRI data from 162 SZ and 178 age- and gender-matched HC. SZ were sorted into groups according to clinical ratings on AH and VH: SZ with VH (VH-SZ; n = 45), SZ with AH but no VH (AH-SZ; n = 50), and SZ with neither AH nor VH (NoH-SZ; n = 67). Our primary analysis was seed based, extracting connectivity between visual cortex and the amygdala (because of its role in fear and negative emotion) and visual cortex and the hippocampus (because of its role in memory). Compared with the other groups, VH-SZ showed hyperconnectivity between the amygdala and visual cortex, specifically BA18, with no differences in connectivity among the other groups. In a voxel-wise, whole brain analysis comparing VH-SZ with AH-SZ, the amygdala was hyperconnected to left temporal pole and inferior frontal gyrus in VH-SZ, likely due to their more severe thought broadcasting. VH-SZ have hyperconnectivity between subcortical areas subserving emotion and cortical areas subserving higher order visual processing, providing biological support for distressing VH in schizophrenia. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Visual Hallucinations Are Associated With Hyperconnectivity Between the Amygdala and Visual Cortex in People With a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Ford, Judith M.; Palzes, Vanessa A.; Roach, Brian J.; Potkin, Steven G.; van Erp, Theo G. M.; Turner, Jessica A.; Mueller, Bryon A.; Calhoun, Vincent D.; Voyvodic, Jim; Belger, Aysenil; Bustillo, Juan; Vaidya, Jatin G.; Preda, Adrian; McEwen, Sarah C.; Mathalon, Daniel H.

2015-01-01

Introduction: While auditory verbal hallucinations (AH) are a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia, people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (SZ) may also experience visual hallucinations (VH). In a retrospective analysis of a large sample of SZ and healthy controls (HC) studied as part of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN), we asked if SZ who endorsed experiencing VH during clinical interviews had greater connectivity between visual cortex and limbic structures than SZ who did not endorse experiencing VH. Methods: We analyzed resting state fMRI data from 162 SZ and 178 age- and gender-matched HC. SZ were sorted into groups according to clinical ratings on AH and VH: SZ with VH (VH-SZ; n = 45), SZ with AH but no VH (AH-SZ; n = 50), and SZ with neither AH nor VH (NoH-SZ; n = 67). Our primary analysis was seed based, extracting connectivity between visual cortex and the amygdala (because of its role in fear and negative emotion) and visual cortex and the hippocampus (because of its role in memory). Results: Compared with the other groups, VH-SZ showed hyperconnectivity between the amygdala and visual cortex, specifically BA18, with no differences in connectivity among the other groups. In a voxel-wise, whole brain analysis comparing VH-SZ with AH-SZ, the amygdala was hyperconnected to left temporal pole and inferior frontal gyrus in VH-SZ, likely due to their more severe thought broadcasting. Conclusions: VH-SZ have hyperconnectivity between subcortical areas subserving emotion and cortical areas subserving higher order visual processing, providing biological support for distressing VH in schizophrenia. PMID:24619536

Differentiating between visual hallucination-free dementia with Lewy bodies and corticobasal syndrome on the basis of neuropsychology and perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography.

PubMed

Misch, Michael R; Mitchell, Sara; Francis, Philip L; Sherborn, Kayla; Meradje, Katayoun; McNeely, Alicia A; Honjo, Kie; Zhao, Jiali; Scott, Christopher Jm; Caldwell, Curtis B; Ehrlich, Lisa; Shammi, Prathiba; MacIntosh, Bradley J; Bilbao, Juan M; Lang, Anthony E; Black, Sandra E; Masellis, Mario

2014-01-01

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Corticobasal Syndrome (CBS) are atypical parkinsonian disorders with fronto-subcortical and posterior cognitive dysfunction as common features. While visual hallucinations are a good predictor of Lewy body pathology and are rare in CBS, they are not exhibited in all cases of DLB. Given the clinical overlap between these disorders, neuropsychological and imaging markers may aid in distinguishing these entities. Prospectively recruited case-control cohorts of CBS (n =31) and visual hallucination-free DLB (n =30), completed neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric measures as well as brain perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Perfusion data were available for forty-two controls. Behavioural, perfusion, and cortical volume and thickness measures were compared between the groups to identify features that serve to differentiate them. The Lewy body with no hallucinations group performed more poorly on measures of episodic memory compared to the corticobasal group, including the delayed and cued recall portions of the California Verbal Learning Test (F (1, 42) =23.1, P <0.001 and F (1, 42) =14.0, P =0.001 respectively) and the delayed visual reproduction of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (F (1, 36) =9.7, P =0.004). The Lewy body group also demonstrated reduced perfusion in the left occipital pole compared to the corticobasal group (F (1,57) =7.4, P =0.009). At autopsy, the Lewy body cases all demonstrated mixed dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer's disease and small vessel arteriosclerosis, while the corticobasal cases demonstrated classical corticobasal degeneration in five, dementia with agyrophilic grains + corticobasal degeneration + cerebral amyloid angiopathy in one, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy in two, and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration-Ubiquitin/TAR DNA-binding protein 43 proteinopathy in one. MRI measures were not significantly different between the patient groups. Reduced perfusion in the left occipital region and worse episodic memory performance may help to distinguish between DLB cases who have never manifested with visual hallucinations and CBS at earlier stages of the disease. Development of reliable neuropsychological and imaging markers that improve diagnostic accuracy will become increasingly important as disease modifying therapies become available.

Culture and the prevalence of hallucinations in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Bauer, Susanne M; Schanda, Hans; Karakula, Hanna; Olajossy-Hilkesberger, Luiza; Rudaleviciene, Palmira; Okribelashvili, Nino; Chaudhry, Haroon R; Idemudia, Sunday E; Gscheider, Sharon; Ritter, Kristina; Stompe, Thomas

2011-01-01

Besides demographic, clinical, familial, and biographical factors, culture and ethnicity may plausibly influence the manifestation of hallucinations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of culture on the frequency of different kinds of hallucinations in schizophrenia. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia were diagnosed by means of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria. Seven independent samples were consecutively recruited in Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Georgia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Pakistan using identical inclusion/exclusion criteria and assessment procedures (N = 1080 patients total). The association of key demographic factors (sex and age), clinical factors (age at onset and duration of illness), and country of origin with hallucinations of different kinds was examined. The prevalence of various kinds of hallucinations was substantially different in the samples; however, the rank order of their occurrence was similar. Auditory hallucinations were relatively infrequent in Austria and Georgia and more prevalent in patients with an early age at onset of disease. Visual hallucinations were more frequently reported by the West African patients compared with subjects from the other 5 countries. Cenesthetic hallucinations were most prevalent in Ghana and in patients with a long duration of illness. We hypothesize that the prevalence of the different kinds of hallucinations in schizophrenia is the result of the interaction of a variety of factors like cultural patterns as well as clinical parameters. According to our study, culture seems to play a decisive role and should be taken into account to a greater extent in considerations concerning the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A model of memory impairment in schizophrenia: cognitive and clinical factors associated with memory efficiency and memory errors.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Ohlsen, Ruth I; David, Anthony S

2013-12-01

Memory impairments in patients with schizophrenia have been associated with various cognitive and clinical factors. Hallucinations have been more specifically associated with errors stemming from source monitoring failure. We conducted a broad investigation of verbal memory and visual memory as well as source memory functioning in a sample of patients with schizophrenia. Various memory measures were tallied, and we studied their associations with processing speed, working memory span, and positive, negative, and depressive symptoms. Superficial and deep memory processes were differentially associated with processing speed, working memory span, avolition, depression, and attention disorders. Auditory/verbal and visual hallucinations were differentially associated with specific types of source memory error. We integrated all the results into a revised version of a previously published model of memory functioning in schizophrenia. The model describes the factors that affect memory efficiency, as well as the cognitive underpinnings of hallucinations within the source monitoring framework. © 2013.

Auditory Hallucinations and the Brain’s Resting-State Networks: Findings and Methodological Observations

PubMed Central

Alderson-Day, Ben; Diederen, Kelly; Fernyhough, Charles; Ford, Judith M.; Horga, Guillermo; Margulies, Daniel S.; McCarthy-Jones, Simon; Northoff, Georg; Shine, James M.; Turner, Jessica; van de Ven, Vincent; van Lutterveld, Remko; Waters, Flavie; Jardri, Renaud

2016-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the potential for alterations to the brain’s resting-state networks (RSNs) to explain various kinds of psychopathology. RSNs provide an intriguing new explanatory framework for hallucinations, which can occur in different modalities and population groups, but which remain poorly understood. This collaboration from the International Consortium on Hallucination Research (ICHR) reports on the evidence linking resting-state alterations to auditory hallucinations (AH) and provides a critical appraisal of the methodological approaches used in this area. In the report, we describe findings from resting connectivity fMRI in AH (in schizophrenia and nonclinical individuals) and compare them with findings from neurophysiological research, structural MRI, and research on visual hallucinations (VH). In AH, various studies show resting connectivity differences in left-hemisphere auditory and language regions, as well as atypical interaction of the default mode network and RSNs linked to cognitive control and salience. As the latter are also evident in studies of VH, this points to a domain-general mechanism for hallucinations alongside modality-specific changes to RSNs in different sensory regions. However, we also observed high methodological heterogeneity in the current literature, affecting the ability to make clear comparisons between studies. To address this, we provide some methodological recommendations and options for future research on the resting state and hallucinations. PMID:27280452

Right hemispheric dominance of visual phenomena evoked by intracerebral stimulation of the human visual cortex.

PubMed

Jonas, Jacques; Frismand, Solène; Vignal, Jean-Pierre; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Koessler, Laurent; Vespignani, Hervé; Rossion, Bruno; Maillard, Louis

2014-07-01

Electrical brain stimulation can provide important information about the functional organization of the human visual cortex. Here, we report the visual phenomena evoked by a large number (562) of intracerebral electrical stimulations performed at low-intensity with depth electrodes implanted in the occipito-parieto-temporal cortex of 22 epileptic patients. Focal electrical stimulation evoked primarily visual hallucinations with various complexities: simple (spot or blob), intermediary (geometric forms), or complex meaningful shapes (faces); visual illusions and impairments of visual recognition were more rarely observed. With the exception of the most posterior cortical sites, the probability of evoking a visual phenomenon was significantly higher in the right than the left hemisphere. Intermediary and complex hallucinations, illusions, and visual recognition impairments were almost exclusively evoked by stimulation in the right hemisphere. The probability of evoking a visual phenomenon decreased substantially from the occipital pole to the most anterior sites of the temporal lobe, and this decrease was more pronounced in the left hemisphere. The greater sensitivity of the right occipito-parieto-temporal regions to intracerebral electrical stimulation to evoke visual phenomena supports a predominant role of right hemispheric visual areas from perception to recognition of visual forms, regardless of visuospatial and attentional factors. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome: A Review of the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Farrell, Lauren; Lewis, Sandra; McKenzie, Amy; Jones, Lynda

2010-01-01

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) commonly occurs in older adults with visual impairments, particularly those with age-related macular degeneration. It is characterized by complex visual hallucinations in individuals without mental disorders. The authors explore diagnostic criteria, demographic characteristics, clinical features, theories of…

Auditory Hallucinations and the Brain's Resting-State Networks: Findings and Methodological Observations.

PubMed

Alderson-Day, Ben; Diederen, Kelly; Fernyhough, Charles; Ford, Judith M; Horga, Guillermo; Margulies, Daniel S; McCarthy-Jones, Simon; Northoff, Georg; Shine, James M; Turner, Jessica; van de Ven, Vincent; van Lutterveld, Remko; Waters, Flavie; Jardri, Renaud

2016-09-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the potential for alterations to the brain's resting-state networks (RSNs) to explain various kinds of psychopathology. RSNs provide an intriguing new explanatory framework for hallucinations, which can occur in different modalities and population groups, but which remain poorly understood. This collaboration from the International Consortium on Hallucination Research (ICHR) reports on the evidence linking resting-state alterations to auditory hallucinations (AH) and provides a critical appraisal of the methodological approaches used in this area. In the report, we describe findings from resting connectivity fMRI in AH (in schizophrenia and nonclinical individuals) and compare them with findings from neurophysiological research, structural MRI, and research on visual hallucinations (VH). In AH, various studies show resting connectivity differences in left-hemisphere auditory and language regions, as well as atypical interaction of the default mode network and RSNs linked to cognitive control and salience. As the latter are also evident in studies of VH, this points to a domain-general mechanism for hallucinations alongside modality-specific changes to RSNs in different sensory regions. However, we also observed high methodological heterogeneity in the current literature, affecting the ability to make clear comparisons between studies. To address this, we provide some methodological recommendations and options for future research on the resting state and hallucinations. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

Cranial Nerve II

PubMed Central

Gillig, Paulette Marie; Sanders, Richard D.

2009-01-01

This article contains a brief review of the anatomy of the visual system, a survey of diseases of the retina, optic nerve and lesions of the optic chiasm, and other visual field defects of special interest to the psychiatrist. It also includes a presentation of the corticothalamic mechanisms, differential diagnosis, and various manifestations of visual illusions, and simple and complex visual hallucinations, as well as the differential diagnoses of these various visual phenomena. PMID:19855858

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Posterior Cortical Atrophy and Alzheimer Disease

PubMed Central

Crutch, Sebastian J.; Franco-Macías, Emilio; Gil-Néciga, Eulogio

2016-01-01

Background: Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare neurodegenerative syndrome characterized by early progressive visual dysfunction in the context of relative preservation of memory and a pattern of atrophy mainly involving the posterior cortex. The aim of the present study is to characterize the neuropsychiatric profile of PCA. Methods: The Neuropsychiatric Inventory was used to assess 12 neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in 28 patients with PCA and 34 patients with typical Alzheimer disease (AD) matched by age, disease duration, and illness severity. Results: The most commonly reported NPS in both groups were depression, anxiety, apathy, and irritability. However, aside from a trend toward lower rates of apathy in patients with PCA, there were no differences in the percentage of NPS presented in each group. All those patients presenting visual hallucinations in the PCA group also met diagnostic criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Auditory hallucinations were only present in patients meeting diagnosis criteria for DLB. Conclusion: Prevalence of the 12 NPS examined was similar between patients with PCA and AD. Hallucinations in PCA may be helpful in the differential diagnosis between PCA-AD and PCA-DLB. PMID:26404166

[The Charles Bonnet syndrome: a case report and a brief review].

PubMed

Saiz Gonzáles, D; Diaz Marsá, M

2003-01-01

The Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is a rare disease that also seems to be generally misdiagnosed. Initially described in the XVIII century by the philosopher with the same name, it consist in complex visual hallucinations in elderly people who suffer sensory deprivation with no other psychopathology. The hypothesis on the neurophysiology of hallucinations suggests, as in other diseases that present hallucinations, some implication of thalamus-cortex pathway release. Some authors have proposed CBS as an early marker of dementia and Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless, the results in functional neuroimaging are not conclusive. Regarding treatment, typical and atypical neuroleptics do not seem to be useful and recent studies suggest that the new anticonvulsants could be effcient. The patient should be informed about CBS as a . In the case reported, the patient presented complex hallucinations with normal SPECT and neuropsychological examinations. The patient did not respond to treatment with risperidone, presenting a favorable evolucion with valpromide. Although further research is needed, this case report supports the efficacy of valpromide in CBS.

'The devil lay upon her and held her down'. Hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis described by the Dutch physician Isbrand van Diemerbroeck (1609-1674) in 1664.

PubMed

Kompanje, E J O

2008-12-01

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are visual, tactile, auditory or other sensory events, usually brief but sometimes prolonged, that occur at the transition from wakefulness to sleep (hypnagogic) or from sleep to wakefulness (hypnopompic). Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are often associated with sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis occurs immediately prior to falling asleep (hypnagogic paralysis) or upon waking (hypnopompic paralysis). In 1664, the Dutch physician Isbrand Van Diemerbroeck (1609-1674) published a collection of case histories. One history with the title 'Of the Night-Mare' describes the nightly experiences of the 50-year-old woman. This case report is subject of this article. The experiences in this case could without doubt be diagnosed as sleep paralysis accompanied by hypnagogic hallucinations. This case from 1664 should be cited as the earliest detailed account of sleep paralysis associated with hypnagogic illusions and as the first observation that sleep paralysis and hypnagogic experiences occur more often in supine position of the body.

[Case with probable dementia with Lewy bodies, who shows reduplicative paramnesia and Capgras syndrome].

PubMed

Ohara, Kazuyuki; Morita, Yoshio

2006-01-01

We report a case of probable dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), showing reduplicative paramnesia (RP) and Capgras syndrome (CS). The patient, a right-handed 60 year-old male, began to show progressive dementia. At the age of 65, he showed fluctuating cognitive impairment and recurrent visual hallucinations. His SPECT demonstrated hypoperfusion not in the medial temporal cortices, but in the parieto-occipital lobes, where the right hemisphere was dominantly hypoperfused. He was diagnosed with probable DLB. In addition to recurrent visual hallucinations, he showed a sense of self- (or others) transfiguration, consciousness of something non-existent (Leibhaftige Bewusstheit; Jaspers, K.), and fluctuating visuo-spacial impairment. At the age of 67, he gradually complained of his duplicative wives "sosie". Finally he went so far as to talk about a nameless phantom boarder. We considered that RP and CS of this case comprised a sense of self-(or others) transfiguration, misidentification of important persons and places, and productive symptoms such as consciousness of something non-existent (Leibhaftige Bewusstheit) and visual hallucinations. The above mentioned symptoms might be originated not only from the disturbance of visuospacial recognition, which involves the limbic system (especially amygdala), medial frontal cortex, and right hemisphere of the brain, but also from the disturbance of recursive consciousness, due to diffusely damaged brain regions with Lewy body pathology. (Authors' abstract)

Altered functional connectivity in lesional peduncular hallucinosis with REM sleep behavior disorder.

PubMed

Geddes, Maiya R; Tie, Yanmei; Gabrieli, John D E; McGinnis, Scott M; Golby, Alexandra J; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan

2016-01-01

Brainstem lesions causing peduncular hallucinosis (PH) produce vivid visual hallucinations occasionally accompanied by sleep disorders. Overlapping brainstem regions modulate visual pathways and REM sleep functions via gating of thalamocortical networks. A 66-year-old man with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation developed abrupt-onset complex visual hallucinations with preserved insight and violent dream enactment behavior. Brain MRI showed restricted diffusion in the left rostrodorsal pons suggestive of an acute ischemic stroke. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) was diagnosed on polysomnography. We investigated the integrity of ponto-geniculate-occipital circuits with seed-based resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI) in this patient compared to 46 controls. Rs-fcMRI revealed significantly reduced functional connectivity between the lesion and lateral geniculate nuclei (LGN), and between LGN and visual association cortex compared to controls. Conversely, functional connectivity between brainstem and visual association cortex, and between visual association cortex and prefrontal cortex (PFC) was significantly increased in the patient. Focal damage to the rostrodorsal pons is sufficient to cause RBD and PH in humans, suggesting an overlapping mechanism in both syndromes. This lesion produced a pattern of altered functional connectivity consistent with disrupted visual cortex connectivity via de-afferentation of thalamocortical pathways. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Non-delirious toxic psychoses in children (author's transl)].

PubMed

Eggers, C

1975-01-01

There is an increasing occurrence of drug-intoxications in infancy, thus psychopathological changes due to intoxication also occur more frequently in children. 6 children were described with cases of acute and reversible toxic psychoses whose--mainly visual--hallucinations together with conditions of excitation and hyperactivity were the most striking features of the psychopathological picture; in contrast to the more frequent delirious confusion (delirium) disturbances of consciousness and orientation were missing. The phenomenological characteristics of halucinosis in children-a condition so far not specified in the case of infants and children-have been elaborated with regard to other psychotic phenomena during infancy and adult age. Relevant neurophysiological and psychodevelopmental findings lead to the following four theorems: 1. Drugs with hallucinotic effects facilitate the occurrence of "internal" pictures independent of external perceptions which are described phenomenologically as hallucinations. This theory is based on the fact that hallucinogenic drugs intensify the electrical potentials which are evoked by optic stimulation in the visual area, while an intracortical impulse propagation is inhibited. 2. A change in emotion either caused by situation or by exogenous or endogenous factors facilitates the development of hallucinations, especially if emotions dominate to such a degree that rational control of reality is being suppressed. Since hallucinogenic drugs exert their effects not only on the sensory system but also on brain structures which influence directly or indirectly emotional functions, hallucinations might also be evoked via this mechanism. 3. Brain stem has-apart from its importance in emotional processes-a filter effect and a controlling function of sensoric stimuli originating in the periphery. Hallucinogenic drugs can influence this screening function and have a disinhibitory effect which cause an inundation of the brain cortex by sensoric stimuli which again facilitate hallucinations. 4. The neurophysiological actions discussed above which are caused by intoxications have a synergistic effect together with the psycho-developmental facts relevant to infancy. This synergism can explain the frequent occurrence of fever hallucinoses as well as the fact that agents primarily not hallucinogenic as e.g. benzydamine can also cause hallucinations in infancy.

Charles Bonnet syndrome in hemianopia, following antero-mesial temporal lobectomy for drug-resistant epilepsy.

PubMed

Contardi, Sara; Rubboli, Guido; Giulioni, Marco; Michelucci, Roberto; Pizza, Fabio; Gardella, Elena; Pinardi, Federica; Bartolomei, Ilaria; Tassinari, Carlo Alberto

2007-09-01

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is a disorder characterized by the occurrence of complex visual hallucinations in patients with acquired impairment of vision and without psychiatric disorders. In spite of the high incidence of visual field defects following antero-mesial temporal lobectomy for refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, reports of CBS in patients who underwent this surgical procedure are surprisingly rare. We describe a patient operated on for drug-resistant epilepsy. As a result of left antero-mesial temporal resection, she presented right homonymous hemianopia. A few days after surgery, she started complaining of visual hallucinations, such as static or moving "Lilliputian" human figures, or countryside scenes, restricted to the hemianopic field. The patient was fully aware of their fictitious nature. These disturbances disappeared progressively over a few weeks. The incidence of CBS associated with visual field defects following epilepsy surgery might be underestimated. Patients with post-surgical CBS should be reassured that it is not an epileptic phenomenon, and that it has a benign, self-limiting, course which does not usually require treatment.

Differences in the symptom profile of methamphetamine-related psychosis and primary psychotic disorders.

PubMed

McKetin, Rebecca; Baker, Amanda L; Dawe, Sharon; Voce, Alexandra; Lubman, Dan I

2017-05-01

We examined the lifetime experience of hallucinations and delusions associated with transient methamphetamine-related psychosis (MAP), persistent MAP and primary psychosis among a cohort of dependent methamphetamine users. Participants were classified as having (a) no current psychotic symptoms, (n=110); (b) psychotic symptoms only when using methamphetamine (transient MAP, n=85); (c) psychotic symptoms both when using methamphetamine and when abstaining from methamphetamine (persistent MAP, n=37), or (d) meeting DSM-IV criteria for lifetime schizophrenia or mania (primary psychosis, n=52). Current psychotic symptoms were classified as a score of 4 or more on any of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale items of suspiciousness, hallucinations or unusual thought content in the past month. Lifetime psychotic diagnoses and symptoms were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Transient MAP was associated with persecutory delusions and tactile hallucinations (compared to the no symptom group). Persistent MAP was additionally associated with delusions of reference, thought interference and complex auditory, visual, olfactory and tactile hallucinations, while primary psychosis was also associated with delusions of thought projection, erotomania and passivity. The presence of non-persecutory delusions and hallucinations across various modalities is a marker for persistent MAP or primary psychosis in people who use methamphetamine. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Effect of religious context on the content of visual hallucinations in individuals high in religiosity.

PubMed

Reed, Phil; Clarke, Natasha

2014-03-30

This study investigated the interaction between the current environment and personality factors associated with religiosity in determining the content of false perceptions (used as a model for hallucinations). A primed word-detection task was used to investigate the effect of a 'religious' context on false perceptions in individuals scoring highly on religiosity. After a subliminal prime, participants viewed letter strings, and stated any words that they saw. The prime and the actual words could have a religious connotation or not. Participants measuring high on religiosity were more likely to report false perceptions of a religious type than participants low on religiosity. It is suggested that context affects the content of false perceptions through the activation of stored beliefs and values, which vary between individuals, offering a mechanism for the effect of context on idiosyncratic content of hallucinations in schizophrenia. The effect of context and individual differences on false-perception content in the current study provides possibilities for future work regarding the underlying nature of hallucinations and their treatment. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The similarities between the hallucinations associated with the partial epileptic seizures of the occipital lobe and ball lightning observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooray, G. K.; Cooray, V.

2007-12-01

Ball Lightning was seen and described since antiquity and recorded in many places. Ball lightning is usually observed during thunderstorms but large number of ball lightning observations is also reported during fine weather without any connection to thunderstorms or lightning. However, so far no one has managed to generate them in the laboratory. It is photographed very rarely and in many cases the authenticity of them is questionable. It is possible that many different phenomena are grouped together and categorized simply as ball lightning. Indeed, the visual hallucinations associated with simple partial epileptic seizures, during which the patient remains conscious, may also be categorized by a patient unaware of his or her condition as ball lightning observation. Such visual hallucinations may occur as a result of an epileptic seizure in the occipital, temporo-occipital or temporal lobes of the cerebrum [1,2,3]. In some cases the hallucination is perceived as a coloured ball moving horizontally from the periphery to the centre of the vision. The ball may appear to be rotating or spinning. The colour of the ball can be red, yellow, blue or green. Sometimes, the ball may appear to have a solid structure surrounded by a thin glow or in other cases the ball appears to generate spark like phenomena. When the ball is moving towards the centre of the vision it may increase its intensity and when it reaches the centre it can 'explode' illuminating the whole field of vision. During the hallucinations the vision is obscured only in the area occupied by the apparent object. The hallucinations may last for 5 to 30 seconds and rarely up to a minute. Occipital seizures may spread into other regions of the brain giving auditory, olfactory and sensory sensations. These sensations could be buzzing sounds, the smell of burning rubber, pain with thermal perception especially in the arms and the face, and numbness and tingling sensation. In some cases a person may experience only one seizure during lifetime and may not be aware of the reason for the experience. Being of good health otherwise, the person may categorize the experience as a ball lightning encounter. If, as described above, the seizure spread into other regions of the brain the resulting experience may appear as electrical effects (the smell, heat sensation, tingling feeling etc.) of ball lightning. Epileptic seizures are a common and important medical problem, with about one in eleven persons experiencing at least one seizure at some point. Thus some of the ball lightning encounters presented in the literature could very well be associated with the experiences of persons who had an epileptic seizure with visual hallucinations. [1] Blom, S. et al., Epilepsy, Neurology, Edited by S-M Aquilonius and J. Fagius, Liber, 2000. [2] Panayiotopoulos, C. P., J. Neorl. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, 66, 536-540, 1999. [3] Bien et al, Brain,123, 244-253, 2000.

The eye amputated - consequences of eye amputation with emphasis on clinical aspects, phantom eye syndrome and quality of life.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Marie Louise Roed

2010-12-01

In this thesis the term eye amputation (EA) covers the removing of an eye by: evisceration, enucleation and exenteration. Amputation of an eye is most frequently the end-stage in a complicated disease, or the primary treatment in trauma and neoplasm. In 2010 the literature is extensive due to knowledge about types of surgery, implants and surgical technique. However, not much is known about the time past surgery. To identify the number of EA, the causative diagnosis and the indication for surgical removal of the eye, the chosen surgical technique and to evaluate a possible change in surgical technique in Denmark from 1996 until 2003 (paper I); To describe the phantom eye syndrome and its prevalence of visual hallucinations, phantom pain and phantom sensations (paper II); To characterise the quality of phantom eye pain, including its intensity and frequency among EA patients. We attempted to identify patients with increased risk of developing pain after EA and investigated if preoperative pain is a risk factor for a later development of phantom pain (paper III); In addition we wanted to investigate the health related quality of life, perceived stress, self rated health, job separation due to illness or disability and socio-economic position of the EA in comparison with the general Danish population (paper IV). Records on 431 EA patients, clinical ophthalmological examination and an interview study of 173 EA patients and a questionnaire answered by 120 EA patients. The most frequent indications for EA in Denmark were painful blind eye (37%) and neoplasm (34%). During the study period 1996-2003, the annual number of eye amputations was stable, but an increase in bulbar eviscerations was noticed. Orbital implants were used with an increasing tendency until 2003. The Phantom eye syndrome is frequent among EA patients. Visual hallucinations were described by 42% of the patients. The content were mainly elementary visual hallucinations, with white or colored light as a continuous sharp light or as moving dots. The most frequent triggers were darkness, closing of the eyes, fatigue and psychological stress. Fifty-four percent of the patients had visual hallucinations more than once a week. Ten patients were so visually disturbed that it interfered with their daily life. Approximately 23% of all EA experience phantom pain for several years after the surgery. Phantom pain was reported to be of three different qualities: (i) cutting, penetrating, gnawing or oppressive (n=19); (ii) radiating, zapping or shooting (n=8); (iii) superficial burning or stinging (n=5); or a mixture of these different pain qualities (n=7). The median intensity on a visual analogue scale, ranging from 0 to 100, was 36 [range: 1-89]. One-third of the patients experienced phantom pain every day. Chilliness, windy weather and psychological stress/fatigue were the most commonly reported triggers for pain. Factors associated with phantom pain were: ophthalmic pain before EA, the presence of implant and a patient reported high degree of conjunctival secretion. A common reason for EA is the presence of a painful blind eye. However, one third of these patients continue to have pain after the EA. Phantom sensations were present in 2% of the patients. The impact of an eye amputation is considerable. EA patients have poorer health related quality of life, poorer self-rated health and more perceived stress than does the general population. The largest differences in health related quality of life between the EA patients and the general population were related to role limitations due to emotional problems and mental health. Patients with the indication painful blind eye are having lower scores in all aspects of health related quality of life and perceived stress than patients with the indication neoplasm and trauma. The percentage of eye amputated which is divorced or separated was twice as high as in the general population. Furthermore, 25% retired or changed to part-time jobs due to eye disease and 39.5% stopped participating in leisure activities due to their EAs. © 2010 The Author. Acta Ophthalmologica © 2010 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation.

A case of pediatric age anticholinergic intoxication due to accidental Datura stramonium ingestion admitting with visual hallucination.

PubMed

Şanlıdağ, Burçin; Derinöz, Okşan; Yıldız, Nagehan

2014-01-01

Datura stramonium (DS) is a hallucinogenic plant that can produce anticholinergic toxicity because of its significant concentrations of toxic alkaloids, such as atropine, hyoscyamine, and scopolamine. DS grows in both rural and urban areas in Turkey. Clinical findings of toxicity are similar to those of atropine toxicity. DS abuse is common among adolescents because of its hallucinatory effects. However, accidental DS poisoning from contaminated food is very rare. Accidental poisonings are commonly seen among children. Children are more prone to the toxic effects of atropine; ingestion of even a small amount can cause serious central nervous system symptoms. Treatment is supportive; antidote treatment is given rarely. An eight-year-old male with accidental DS poisoning who presented to the Pediatric Emergency Department with aggression, agitation, delirium, and visual hallucinations is reported.

Hallucinations and REM sleep behaviour disorder in Parkinson's disease: dream imagery intrusions and other hypotheses.

PubMed

Manni, Raffaele; Terzaghi, Michele; Ratti, Pietro-Luca; Repetto, Alessandra; Zangaglia, Roberta; Pacchetti, Claudio

2011-12-01

REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) is a REM sleep-related parasomnia which may be considered a "dissociated state of wakefulness and sleep", given that conflicting elements of REM sleep (dreaming) and of wakefulness (sustained muscle tone and movements) coexist during the episodes, leading to motor and behavioural manifestations reminiscent of an enacted dream. RBD has been reported in association with α-synucleinopathies: around a third of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have full-blown RBD. Recent data indicate that PD patients with RBD are more prone to hallucinations than PD patients without this parasomnia. However it is still not clear why RBD in PD is associated with an increased prevalence of VHs. Data exist which suggest that visual hallucinations in PD may be the result of untimely intrusions of REM visual imagery into wakefulness. RBD, which is characterised by a REM sleep dissociation pattern, might be a condition that particularly favours such intrusions. However, other hypotheses may be advanced. In fact, deficits in attentional, executive, visuoperceptual and visuospatial abilities have been documented in RBD and found to occur far more frequently in PD with RBD than in PD without RBD. Neuropsychological deficits involving visual perception and attentional processes are thought to play an important role in the pathophysiology of VHs. On this basis, RBD in PD could be viewed as a contributory risk factor for VHs. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

When epilepsy may have changed history: Antônio Moreira César as the commander of the third expedition in the war of Canudos.

PubMed

Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

2003-06-01

Colonel Antônio Moreira César, the Commander of the third Expedition against Canudos (1896-1897), nicknamed "head-chopper", was considered an implacable military man, a synonym of ferocity and extreme brutality against his adversaries. Therefore, he was nominated the Commander of an expedition considered almost invincible. Since his 30's he presented epileptic seizures, which increased in frequency and severity on his way to Canudos. After several well-documented episodes and probably considering himself the winner in anticipation, he ordered a premature and almost ingenuous attack against Canudos. His misjudging is attributed to the effect of successive seizures. He was shot and killed on the very first day of that battle and his expedition had a horrible and unexpected end. Based on the descriptions of his biographer we discuss the nature of his disease probably characterized by focal seizures with elementary and complex visual hallucinations followed by language deficits and episodes of complex partial seizures and secondary generalization and its role in this episode of Brazilian history.

Colored floaters as a manifestation of digoxin toxicity.

PubMed

Shi, Lynn; Sun, Linus D; Odel, Jeffrey G

2018-06-01

Since its report in one patient more than 70 years ago, digitalis-induced colored muscae volitantes have not surfaced again in the literature. We report here a case of digoxin induced colored floaters. An 89-year-old man on 0.25 mg digoxin daily developed visual hallucinations and colored floaters. He had floaters in the past but now they were in various colors including yellow, green, blue and red, though predominantly in yellow. These "weirdly" shaped little particles wiggled around as if in a viscous solution and casted shadows in his vision. He also saw geometric shapes, spirals, and cross hatch patterns of various colors that moved and undulated, especially on wallpaper. Ophthalmic examination revealed reduced visual acuity, poor color vision especially in his left eye, along with central depression on Amsler grid and Humphrey visual field in his left eye. Discontinuation of digoxin resulted in complete resolution of his visual symptoms. On subsequent ophthalmic examination, the patient's visual acuity, field testing and color vision improved and he had normal Amsler grid test results. Colored floaters may occur in patients taking cardiac glycosides but this association has not been explored. Unlike optical illusions and visual hallucinations, floaters are entoptic phenomena casting a physical shadow upon the retina and their coloring likely arise from retinal dysfunction. Colored floaters may be a more common visual phenomenon than realized.

Autoscopic phenomena and one's own body representation in dreams.

PubMed

Occhionero, Miranda; Cicogna, Piera Carla

2011-12-01

Autoscopic phenomena (AP) are complex experiences that include the visual illusory reduplication of one's own body. From a phenomenological point of view, we can distinguish three conditions: autoscopic hallucinations, heautoscopy, and out-of-body experiences. The dysfunctional pattern involves multisensory disintegration of personal and extrapersonal space perception. The etiology, generally either neurological or psychiatric, is different. Also, the hallucination of Self and own body image is present during dreams and differs according to sleep stage. Specifically, the representation of the Self in REM dreams is frequently similar to the perception of Self in wakefulness, whereas in NREM dreams, a greater polymorphism of Self and own body representation is observed. The parallels between autoscopic phenomena in pathological cases and the Self-hallucination in dreams will be discussed to further the understanding of the particular states of self awareness, especially the complex integration of different memory sources in Self and body representation. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structural and Functional Neuroimaging of Visual Hallucinations in Lewy Body Disease: A Systematic Literature Review

PubMed Central

Cagnin, Annachiara; Bandmann, Oliver; Venneri, Annalena

2017-01-01

Patients with Lewy body disease (LBD) frequently experience visual hallucinations (VH), well-formed images perceived without the presence of real stimuli. The structural and functional brain mechanisms underlying VH in LBD are still unclear. The present review summarises the current literature on the neural correlates of VH in LBD, namely Parkinson’s disease (PD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Following a systematic literature search, 56 neuroimaging studies of VH in PD and DLB were critically reviewed and evaluated for quality assessment. The main structural neuroimaging results on VH in LBD revealed grey matter loss in frontal areas in patients with dementia, and parietal and occipito-temporal regions in PD without dementia. Parietal and temporal hypometabolism was also reported in hallucinating PD patients. Disrupted functional connectivity was detected especially in the default mode network and fronto-parietal regions. However, evidence on structural and functional connectivity is still limited and requires further investigation. The current literature is in line with integrative models of VH suggesting a role of attention and perception deficits in the development of VH. However, despite the close relationship between VH and cognitive impairment, its associations with brain structure and function have been explored only by a limited number of studies. PMID:28714891

The stuff that dreams aren't made of: why wake-state and dream-state sensory experiences differ.

PubMed

Symons, D

1993-06-01

It is adaptive for individuals to be continuously alert and responsive to external stimuli (such as the sound and odor of an approaching predator or the cry of an infant), even during sleep. Natural selection thus has disfavored the occurrence during sleep of hallucinations that compromise external vigilance. In the great majority of mammalian species, including Homo sapiens, closed eyes and immobility are basic aspects of sleep. Therefore, (a) visual and movement sensory modalities (except kinesthesis) do not provide the sleeper with accurate information about the external environment or the sleeper's relationship to that environment; (b) the sleeper's forebrain "vigilance mechanism" does not monitor these modalities; hence (c) visual and movement hallucinations--similar or identical to percepts--can occur during sleep without compromising vigilance. In contrast, the other sensory modalities do provide the sleeper with a continuous flow of information about the external environment or the sleeper's relationship to that environment, and these modalities are monitored by the vigilance mechanism. Hallucinations of kinesthesis, pain, touch, warmth, cold, odor, and sound thus would compromise vigilance, and their occurrence during sleep has been disfavored by natural selection. This vigilance hypothesis generates novel predictions about dream phenomenology and REM-state neurophysiology and has implications for the general study of imagery.

Modulatory effect of the 5-HT1A agonist buspirone and the mixed non-hallucinogenic 5-HT1A/2A agonist ergotamine on psilocybin-induced psychedelic experience.

PubMed

Pokorny, Thomas; Preller, Katrin H; Kraehenmann, Rainer; Vollenweider, Franz X

2016-04-01

The mixed serotonin (5-HT) 1A/2A/2B/2C/6/7 receptor agonist psilocybin dose-dependently induces an altered state of consciousness (ASC) that is characterized by changes in sensory perception, mood, thought, and the sense of self. The psychological effects of psilocybin are primarily mediated by 5-HT2A receptor activation. However, accumulating evidence suggests that 5-HT1A or an interaction between 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors may contribute to the overall effects of psilocybin. Therefore, we used a double-blind, counterbalanced, within-subject design to investigate the modulatory effects of the partial 5-HT1A agonist buspirone (20mg p.o.) and the non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A/1A agonist ergotamine (3mg p.o.) on psilocybin-induced (170 µg/kg p.o.) psychological effects in two groups (n=19, n=17) of healthy human subjects. Psychological effects were assessed using the Altered State of Consciousness (5D-ASC) rating scale. Buspirone significantly reduced the 5D-ASC main scale score for Visionary Restructuralization (VR) (p<0.001), which was mostly driven by a reduction of the VR item cluster scores for elementary and complex visual hallucinations. Further, buspirone also reduced the main scale score for Oceanic Boundlessness (OB) including derealisation and depersonalisation phenomena at a trend level (p=0.062), whereas ergotamine did not show any effects on the psilocybin-induced 5D-ASC main scale scores. The present finding demonstrates that buspirone exerts inhibitory effects on psilocybin-induced effects, presumably via 5-HT1A receptor activation, an interaction between 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors, or both. The data suggest that the modulation of 5-HT1A receptor activity may be a useful target in the treatment of visual hallucinations in different psychiatric and neurological diseases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Capgras syndrome in Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

PubMed

Thaipisuttikul, Papan; Lobach, Iryna; Zweig, Yael; Gurnani, Ashita; Galvin, James E

2013-05-01

Capgras syndrome is characterized by the recurrent, transient belief that a person has been replaced by an identical imposter. We reviewed clinical characteristics of Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) patients with Capgras syndrome compared to those without Capgras. We identified 55 consecutive DLB patients (11 cases with Capgras syndrome (DLB-C) and 44 cases without evidence of Capgras (DLB). Semi-structured interviews with the patient and an informant, neurological exams, and neuropsychological testing were performed. Caregivers were assessed for caregiver burden and depression. Primary comparisons were made between DLB-C and DLB. Exploratory analyses using stepwise logistic regression and bootstrap analyses were performed to determine clinical features associated with Capgras. DLB-C patients experienced more visual hallucinations and self-reported anxiety, had higher scores on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and were less likely to be treated with cholinesterase inhibitors at time of initial evaluation. Extrapyramidal symptoms and depression were not associated with Capgras. Caregivers of DLB-C patients had higher caregiver burden. DLB-C was associated with self-reported anxiety (OR = 10.9; 95% CI = 2.6-47.6). In a bootstrap analysis, clinical findings that were predictors of Capgras included visual hallucinations (log(OR) = 18.3; 95% CI = 17.9-19.3) and anxiety (log(OR) = 2.9; 95% CI = 0.31-20.2). Our study suggests that Capgras syndrome is common in DLB and usually occurs in the presence of anxiety and visual hallucinations, suggesting related etiopathogenesis. Early appreciation of Capgras syndrome may afford the opportunity to alleviate caregiver burden and improve patient and caregiver outcomes.

Visual hallucinations of autobiographic memory and asomatognosia: a case of epilepsy due to brain cysticercosis.

PubMed

Orjuela-Rojas, Juan Manuel; Ramírez-Bermúdez, Jesús; Martínez-Juárez, Iris E; Kerik, Nora Estela; Diaz Meneses, Iván; Pérez-Gay, Fernanda Juárez

2015-01-01

The current study describes the case of a woman with symptomatic epilepsy due to brain cysticercosis acquired during childhood. During her adolescence, she developed seizures characterized by metamorphopsia, hallucinations of autobiographic memory and, finally, asomatognosia. Magnetic brain imaging showed a calcified lesion in the right occipitotemporal cortex, and positron emission tomography imaging confirmed the presence of interictal hypometabolism in two regions: the right parietal cortex and the right lateral and posterior temporal cortex. We discuss the link between these brain areas and the symptoms described under the concepts of epileptogenic lesion, epileptogenic zone, functional deficit zone, and symptomatogenic zone.

Metabolic alterations in patients with Parkinson disease and visual hallucinations.

PubMed

Boecker, Henning; Ceballos-Baumann, Andres O; Volk, Dominik; Conrad, Bastian; Forstl, Hans; Haussermann, Peter

2007-07-01

Visual hallucinations (VHs) occur frequently in advanced stages of Parkinson disease (PD). Which brain regions are affected in PD with VH is not well understood. To characterize the pattern of affected brain regions in PD with VH and to determine whether functional changes in PD with VH occur preferentially in visual association areas, as is suggested by the complex clinical symptomatology. Positron emission tomography measurements using fluorodeoxyglucose F 18. Between-group statistical analysis, accounting for the variance related to disease stage. University hospital. Patients Eight patients with PD and VH and 11 patients with PD without VH were analyzed. The presence of VH during the month before positron emission tomography was rated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory subscale for VH (PD and VH, 4.63; PD without VH, 0.00; P < .002). Parkinson disease with VH, compared with PD without VH, was characterized by reduction in the regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose consumption (P < .05, corrected for false discovery rate) in occipitotemporoparietal regions, sparing the occipital pole. No significant increase in regional glucose metabolism was detected in patients with PD and VH. The pattern of resting-state metabolic changes in regions of the dorsal and ventral visual streams, but not in primary visual cortex, in patients with PD and VH, is compatible with the functional roles of visual association areas in higher-order visual processing. These findings may help to further elucidate the functional mechanisms underlying VH in PD.

Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

MedlinePlus

... rest. Recurrent visual hallucinations of people, insects and animals may appear early in LBD. Delusions (i.e., fixed false beliefs), apathy (i.e., lack of initiative), agitation and depression are also common. REM sleep behavior disorder (i.e., vivid dreams with verbal or ...

Long lasting effects of chronic heavy cannabis abuse.

PubMed

Nestoros, Joannis N; Vakonaki, Elena; Tzatzarakis, Manolis N; Alegakis, Athanasios; Skondras, Markos D; Tsatsakis, Aristidis M

2017-06-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of short-term memory impairment and schizophrenia-like symptoms in heavy and systematic cannabis users and the association between the severity of abuse and the longevity of its persistent symptoms after refraining from such use. A complete psychiatric examination and a psychometric evaluation were performed in 48 solely cannabis users. Additionally, head hair samples were analyzed and the detected cannabinoids levels were correlated with the psychometric findings. A total of 33.3% (n = 16) of the total examined cannabis users were currently imprisoned. The years of abuse ranged from 1 to 35 years and the median daily dose was 5.84.4 gr and 4.84.0 gr for prisoners (n = 16) and non prisoners (n = 32), respectively. A total of 39.6% of the users experienced hallucinations (mostly auditory), 54.2% experienced delusions (mostly ideas of reference and persecution), 85.4% had organic brain dysfunction in a test addressing visual-motor functioning and visual perception skills, and all users (100%) were found to have organic brain dysfunction in a test of visual memory immediate recall. The cannabinoid metabolite levels in the hair samples were consistent with the reported history of substance abuse and total grams of consumption for the participants below 35 years old (p < .001). Statistically elevated cannabinoids levels were observed in users with auditory hallucinations compared to users without any hallucinations (p = .019). The existence of hallucinations, delusions, and organic brain dysfunction in heavy cannabis users seems to be associated with cannabinoid levels in hair. The continuation of persistent symptoms 3 months after the discontinuation of cannabis abuse, was a remarkable finding. We provide evidence that chronic and heavy cannabis abuse results in long-lasting brain dysfunction in all users and in long-lasting schizophrenia-like psychotic symptoms in more than half of all users. These findings suggest a reevaluation of the current classification of cannabis as a "soft narcotic" which erroneously, therefore, is typically considered harmless. (Am J Addict 2017;26:335-342). © 2017 American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Increased frequency of involuntary semantic memories or mind-pops in schizophrenia: a diary study.

PubMed

Elua, Ia; Laws, Keith R; Kvavilashvili, Lia

2015-01-01

Hallucinations constitute a prominent symptom of schizophrenia and may take a variety of forms (verbal, visual, musical, or environmental noises). Interesting similarities exist between hallucinations and so-called mind-pops which refer to isolated fragments of one's semantic knowledge (e.g., a word/sentence, visual image, or a song/melody) that come to mind unexpectedly, often without any obvious triggers, and are difficult to control. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether mind-pops may constitute the raw cognitive material from which hallucinations are constructed by studying the nature and frequency of mind-pops in the everyday life of people with schizophrenia and non-clinical controls. Eleven participants with schizophrenia and 14 non-clinical controls kept a diary of their mind-pops for seven days and completed a brief questionnaire every time they had a mind-pop. Schizophrenia participants reported significantly more verbal and image mind-pops than controls and their content was negative more often than in controls. No group differences were obtained in terms of reported triggers or ongoing activities. Data from both groups also supported the priming hypothesis by showing that stimuli encountered in one's environment or thoughts could later re-appear in the form of a mind-pop. The findings have implications for models of schizophrenia that emphasise the role of intrusive thoughts and memories in the aetiology and development of key psychotic symptoms.

Heterogeneous iris image hallucination using sparse representation on a learned heterogeneous patch dictionary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yung-Hui; Zheng, Bo-Ren; Ji, Dai-Yan; Tien, Chung-Hao; Liu, Po-Tsun

2014-09-01

Cross sensor iris matching may seriously degrade the recognition performance because of the sensor mis-match problem of iris images between the enrollment and test stage. In this paper, we propose two novel patch-based heterogeneous dictionary learning method to attack this problem. The first method applies the latest sparse representation theory while the second method tries to learn the correspondence relationship through PCA in heterogeneous patch space. Both methods learn the basic atoms in iris textures across different image sensors and build connections between them. After such connections are built, at test stage, it is possible to hallucinate (synthesize) iris images across different sensors. By matching training images with hallucinated images, the recognition rate can be successfully enhanced. The experimental results showed the satisfied results both visually and in terms of recognition rate. Experimenting with an iris database consisting of 3015 images, we show that the EER is decreased 39.4% relatively by the proposed method.

Visuoperceptual impairment in dementia with Lewy bodies.

PubMed

Mori, E; Shimomura, T; Fujimori, M; Hirono, N; Imamura, T; Hashimoto, M; Tanimukai, S; Kazui, H; Hanihara, T

2000-04-01

In dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), vision-related cognitive and behavioral symptoms are common, and involvement of the occipital visual cortices has been demonstrated in functional neuroimaging studies. To delineate visuoperceptual disturbance in patients with DLB in comparison with that in patients with Alzheimer disease and to explore the relationship between visuoperceptual disturbance and the vision-related cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Case-control study. Research-oriented hospital. Twenty-four patients with probable DLB (based on criteria of the Consortium on DLB International Workshop) and 48 patients with probable Alzheimer disease (based on criteria of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association) who were matched to those with DLB 2:1 by age, sex, education, and Mini-Mental State Examination score. Four test items to examine visuoperceptual functions, including the object size discrimination, form discrimination, overlapping figure identification, and visual counting tasks. Compared with patients with probable Alzheimer disease, patients with probable DLB scored significantly lower on all the visuoperceptive tasks (P<.04 to P<.001). In the DLB group, patients with visual hallucinations (n = 18) scored significantly lower on the overlapping figure identification (P = .01) than those without them (n = 6), and patients with television misidentifications (n = 5) scored significantly lower on the size discrimination (P<.001), form discrimination (P = .01), and visual counting (P = .007) than those without them (n = 19). Visual perception is defective in probable DLB. The defective visual perception plays a role in development of visual hallucinations, delusional misidentifications, visual agnosias, and visuoconstructive disability charcteristic of DLB.

Clinical and cognitive correlates of visual hallucinations in dementia with Lewy bodies.

PubMed

Cagnin, Annachiara; Gnoato, Francesca; Jelcic, Nela; Favaretto, Silvia; Zarantonello, Giulia; Ermani, Mario; Dam, Mauro

2013-05-01

The presence of recurrent complex visual hallucinations (VHs) is a core feature of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The aim of this study was to investigate which clinical and neuropsychological characteristics are associated with VHs and their predictive value over a 1 year follow-up. 81 DLB patients, 41 with (VH+) and 36 without (VH-) VHs, and 45 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), were enrolled. All participants underwent extensive neuropsychological testing. Visual-spatial and perceptual abilities were evaluated with the Visual and Object Space Perception (VOSP) battery. Fluctuations in attention, rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) symptoms, extrapyramidal signs and behavioural disturbances were studied with dedicated clinical scales. The presence of VHs was associated with older age and later disease onset, but not with disease duration or with fluctuations, RBD or parkinsonism severity. Cognitive correlates of VHs were deficits in visual attention (digit cancellation: p<0.005) and executive functions (clock drawing: p<0.05; digit span forward: p<0.05) on a background of a slightly worse global cognitive performance (Mini-Mental State Examination: p=0.05). Visual-perceptual and visual-spatial deficits were significantly worse in DLB than in AD patients (VOSP subtests scores 1, 6, 7 and 8) but were not different in DLB VH+ and VH-, except for subtest 6. Poor performance in the visual attention task was an independent predictor of VHs. Impairment of visual-spatial and perceptual abilities in DLB represents a disease related cognitive signature, independent of the presence of VHs, for which it may represent a predisposing condition. Visual attention, instead, is the main cognitive determinant for the genesis of VHs.

Are patients with Parkinson’s disease blind to blindsight?

PubMed Central

Stebbins, Glenn; Schiltz, Christine; Goetz, Christopher G.

2014-01-01

In Parkinson’s disease, visual dysfunction is prominent. Visual hallucinations can be a major hallmark of late stage disease, but numerous visual deficits also occur in early stage Parkinson’s disease. Specific retinopathy, deficits in the primary visual pathway and the secondary ventral and dorsal pathways, as well as dysfunction of the attention pathways have all been posited as causes of hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease. We present data from patients with Parkinson’s disease that contrast with a known neuro-ophthalmological syndrome, termed ‘blindsight’. In this syndrome, there is an absence of conscious object identification, but preserved ‘guess’ of the location of a stimulus, preserved reflexive saccades and motion perception and preserved autonomical and expressive reactions to negative emotional facial expressions. We propose that patients with Parkinson’s disease have the converse of blindsight, being ‘blind to blindsight’. As such they preserve conscious vision, but show erroneous ‘guess’ localization of visual stimuli, poor saccades and motion perception, and poor emotional face perception with blunted autonomic reaction. Although a large data set on these deficits in Parkinson’s disease has been accumulated, consolidation into one specific syndrome has not been proposed. Focusing on neuropathological and physiological data from two phylogenetically old and subconscious pathways, the retino-colliculo-thalamo-amygdala and the retino-geniculo-extrastriate pathways, we propose that aberrant function of these systems, including pathologically inhibited superior colliculus activity, deficient corollary discharges to the frontal eye fields, dysfunctional pulvinar, claustrum and amygdaloid subnuclei of the amygdala, the latter progressively burdened with Lewy bodies, underlie this syndrome. These network impairments are further corroborated by the concept of the ‘silent amygdala’. Functionally being ‘blind to blindsight’ may facilitate the highly distinctive ‘presence’ or ‘passage’ hallucinations of Parkinson’s disease and can help to explain handicaps in driving capacities and dysfunctional ‘theory of mind’. We propose this synthesis to prompt refined neuropathological and neuroimaging studies on the pivotal nuclei in these pathways in order to better understand the networks underpinning this newly conceptualized syndrome in Parkinson’s disease. PMID:24764573

Auditory Hallucinations as Translational Psychiatry: Evidence from Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

PubMed

Hugdahl, Kenneth

2017-12-01

In this invited review article, I present a translational perspective and overview of our research on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia at the University of Bergen, Norway, with a focus on the neuronal mechanisms underlying the phenomenology of experiencing "hearing voices". An auditory verbal hallucination (i.e. hearing a voice) is defined as a sensory experience in the absence of a corresponding external sensory source that could explain the phenomenological experience. I suggest a general frame or scheme for the study of auditory verbal hallucinations, called Levels of Explanation. Using a Levels of Explanation approach, mental phenomena can be described and explained at different levels (cultural, clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, cellular and molecular). Another way of saying this is that, to advance knowledge in a research field, it is not only necessary to replicate findings, but also to show how evidence obtained with one method, and at one level of explanation, converges with evidence obtained with another method at another level. To achieve breakthroughs in our understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations, we have to advance vertically through the various levels, rather than the more common approach of staying at our favourite level and advancing horizontally (e.g., more advanced techniques and data acquisition analyses). The horizontal expansion will, however, not advance a deeper understanding of how an auditory verbal hallucination spontaneously starts and stops. Finally, I present data from the clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, and cellular levels, where data from one level validate and support data at another level, called converging of evidence. Using a translational approach, the current status of auditory verbal hallucinations is that they implicate speech perception areas in the left temporal lobe, impairing perception of and attention to external sounds. Preliminary results also show that amygdala is implicated in the emotional «colouring» of the voices and that excitatory neurotransmitters might be involved. What we do not know is why hallucinatory episodes occur spontaneously, why they fluctuate over time, and what makes them spontaneously stop. Moreover, is voice hearing a category or dimension in its own right, independent of diagnosis, and why is the auditory modality predominantly implicated in psychotic disorders, while the visual modality dominates in, for example, neurological diseases?

Anxiety and Charles Bonnet Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geueke, Anna; Morley, Michael G.; Morley, Katharine; Lorch, Alice; Jackson, MaryLou; Lambrou, Angeliki; Wenberg, June; Oteng-Amoako, Afua

2012-01-01

Introduction: Some persons with Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) suffer significant anxiety because of their visual hallucinations, while others do not. The aim of the study presented here was to compare levels of anxiety in persons with low vision with and without CBS. Methods: This retrospective study compared the level of anxiety in 31 persons…

Dissociative Disorders in Children: Behavioral Profiles and Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Putnam, Frank W.

1993-01-01

Clinical research has established a connection between childhood trauma and the development of dissociative disorders in adults. Pathological dissociation produces a range of symptoms and behaviors such as amnesias, rapid shifts in mood and behavior, and auditory and visual hallucinations. Many of these symptoms are misdiagnosed as attention,…

Bullying victimisation and risk of psychotic phenomena: analyses of British national survey data.

PubMed

Catone, Gennaro; Marwaha, Steven; Kuipers, Elizabeth; Lennox, Belinda; Freeman, Daniel; Bebbington, Paul; Broome, Matthew

2015-07-01

Being bullied is an aversive experience with short-term and long-term consequences, and is incorporated in biopsychosocial models of psychosis. We used the 2000 and the 2007 British Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys to test the hypothesis that bullying is associated with individual psychotic phenomena and with psychosis, and predicts the later emergence of persecutory ideation and hallucinations. We analysed two nationally representative surveys of individuals aged 16 years or older in Great Britain (2000) and England (2007). Respondents were presented with a card listing stressful events to identify experiences of bullying over the entire lifespan. We assessed associations with the dependent variables persecutory ideation, auditory and visual hallucinations, and diagnosis of probable psychosis. All analyses were controlled for sociodemographic confounders, intelligence quotient (IQ), and other traumas. We used data for 8580 respondents from 2000 and 7403 from 2007. Bullying was associated with presence of persecutory ideation and hallucinations, remaining so after adjustment for sociodemographic factors, IQ, other traumas, and childhood sexual abuse. Bullying was associated with a diagnosis of probable psychosis. If reported at baseline, bullying predicted emergence and maintenance of persecutory ideation and hallucinations during 18 months of follow-up in the 2000 survey. Controlling for other traumas and childhood sexual abuse did not affect the association between bullying and psychotic symptoms, but reduced the significance of the association with diagnosis of probable psychosis. Bullying was most strongly associated with the presence of concurrent persecutory ideation and hallucinations. Bullying victimisation increases the risk of individual psychotic symptoms and of a diagnosis of probable psychosis. Early detection of bullying and use of treatments oriented towards its psychological consequences might ameliorate the course of psychosis. None. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychotic symptoms in acromegaly

PubMed Central

Pinto, Denzil; Safeekh, A.T.; Trivedi, Mohit

2005-01-01

Various psychiatric symptoms have been reported in patients with acromegaly. Most of them are personality changes characterized by lack of initiative and spontaneity. There are few case reports of the presence of auditory and visual hallucinations, and delusions in patients with acromegaly. We report a patient with acromegaly who had psychotic symptoms including Schneiderian first-rank symptoms.

Auditory processing deficits in bipolar disorder with and without a history of psychotic features.

PubMed

Zenisek, RyAnna; Thaler, Nicholas S; Sutton, Griffin P; Ringdahl, Erik N; Snyder, Joel S; Allen, Daniel N

2015-11-01

Auditory perception deficits have been identified in schizophrenia (SZ) and linked to dysfunction in the auditory cortex. Given that psychotic symptoms, including auditory hallucinations, are also seen in bipolar disorder (BD), it may be that individuals with BD who also exhibit psychotic symptoms demonstrate a similar impairment in auditory perception. Fifty individuals with SZ, 30 individuals with bipolar I disorder with a history of psychosis (BD+), 28 individuals with bipolar I disorder with no history of psychotic features (BD-), and 29 normal controls (NC) were administered a tone discrimination task and an emotion recognition task. Mixed-model analyses of covariance with planned comparisons indicated that individuals with BD+ performed at a level that was intermediate between those with BD- and those with SZ on the more difficult condition of the tone discrimination task and on the auditory condition of the emotion recognition task. There were no differences between the BD+ and BD- groups on the visual or auditory-visual affect recognition conditions. Regression analyses indicated that performance on the tone discrimination task predicted performance on all conditions of the emotion recognition task. Auditory hallucinations in BD+ were not related to performance on either task. Our findings suggested that, although deficits in frequency discrimination and emotion recognition are more severe in SZ, these impairments extend to BD+. Although our results did not support the idea that auditory hallucinations may be related to these deficits, they indicated that basic auditory deficits may be a marker for psychosis, regardless of SZ or BD diagnosis. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Auditory Hallucinations as Translational Psychiatry: Evidence from Magnetic Resonance Imaging

PubMed Central

Hugdahl, Kenneth

2017-01-01

In this invited review article, I present a translational perspective and overview of our research on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia at the University of Bergen, Norway, with a focus on the neuronal mechanisms underlying the phenomenology of experiencing “hearing voices”. An auditory verbal hallucination (i.e. hearing a voice) is defined as a sensory experience in the absence of a corresponding external sensory source that could explain the phenomenological experience. I suggest a general frame or scheme for the study of auditory verbal hallucinations, called Levels of Explanation. Using a Levels of Explanation approach, mental phenomena can be described and explained at different levels (cultural, clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, cellular and molecular). Another way of saying this is that, to advance knowledge in a research field, it is not only necessary to replicate findings, but also to show how evidence obtained with one method, and at one level of explanation, converges with evidence obtained with another method at another level. To achieve breakthroughs in our understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations, we have to advance vertically through the various levels, rather than the more common approach of staying at our favourite level and advancing horizontally (e.g., more advanced techniques and data acquisition analyses). The horizontal expansion will, however, not advance a deeper understanding of how an auditory verbal hallucination spontaneously starts and stops. Finally, I present data from the clinical, cognitive, brain-imaging, and cellular levels, where data from one level validate and support data at another level, called converging of evidence. Using a translational approach, the current status of auditory verbal hallucinations is that they implicate speech perception areas in the left temporal lobe, impairing perception of and attention to external sounds. Preliminary results also show that amygdala is implicated in the emotional «colouring» of the voices and that excitatory neurotransmitters might be involved. What we do not know is why hallucinatory episodes occur spontaneously, why they fluctuate over time, and what makes them spontaneously stop. Moreover, is voice hearing a category or dimension in its own right, independent of diagnosis, and why is the auditory modality predominantly implicated in psychotic disorders, while the visual modality dominates in, for example, neurological diseases? PMID:29019460

"Where do auditory hallucinations come from?"--a brain morphometry study of schizophrenia patients with inner or outer space hallucinations.

PubMed

Plaze, Marion; Paillère-Martinot, Marie-Laure; Penttilä, Jani; Januel, Dominique; de Beaurepaire, Renaud; Bellivier, Franck; Andoh, Jamila; Galinowski, André; Gallarda, Thierry; Artiges, Eric; Olié, Jean-Pierre; Mangin, Jean-François; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Cachia, Arnaud

2011-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations are a cardinal symptom of schizophrenia. Bleuler and Kraepelin distinguished 2 main classes of hallucinations: hallucinations heard outside the head (outer space, or external, hallucinations) and hallucinations heard inside the head (inner space, or internal, hallucinations). This distinction has been confirmed by recent phenomenological studies that identified 3 independent dimensions in auditory hallucinations: language complexity, self-other misattribution, and spatial location. Brain imaging studies in schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations have already investigated language complexity and self-other misattribution, but the neural substrate of hallucination spatial location remains unknown. Magnetic resonance images of 45 right-handed patients with schizophrenia and persistent auditory hallucinations and 20 healthy right-handed subjects were acquired. Two homogeneous subgroups of patients were defined based on the hallucination spatial location: patients with only outer space hallucinations (N=12) and patients with only inner space hallucinations (N=15). Between-group differences were then assessed using 2 complementary brain morphometry approaches: voxel-based morphometry and sulcus-based morphometry. Convergent anatomical differences were detected between the patient subgroups in the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ). In comparison to healthy subjects, opposite deviations in white matter volumes and sulcus displacements were found in patients with inner space hallucination and patients with outer space hallucination. The current results indicate that spatial location of auditory hallucinations is associated with the rTPJ anatomy, a key region of the "where" auditory pathway. The detected tilt in the sulcal junction suggests deviations during early brain maturation, when the superior temporal sulcus and its anterior terminal branch appear and merge.

A Hierarchical and Contextual Model for Learning and Recognizing Highly Variant Visual Categories

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

neighboring pattern primitives, to create our model. We also present a minimax entropy framework for automatically learning which contextual constraints are...Grammars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.2 Markov Random Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3.3 Creating a Contextual...Compositional Boosting. . . . . 119 7.8 Top-down hallucinations of missing objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 7.9 The bottom-up to top-down

Ertapenem-associated neurotoxicity in the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) population: a case series.

PubMed

Patel, Ursula C; Fowler, Mallory A

2017-09-06

Context Ertapenem, a broad spectrum carbapenem antibiotic, is used often in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) patients due to increased risk factors for multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections in this population. Neurotoxicity, specifically seizures, due to ertapenem is a known adverse effect and has been described previously. Other manifestations such as delirium and visual hallucinations have rarely been reported, and no literature, to the best of our knowledge, specifically describes these effects solely in the SCI population. Findings Four cases of mental status changes and hallucinations in SCI patients attributed to ertapenem therapy are described. Onset of symptoms began between one and six days following initiation of ertapenem and resolved between two to 42 days following discontinuation. Based on the Naranjo probability scale, a probable relationship exists between the adverse events and ertapenem for three out of the four cases. Possible overestimation of renal function and hypoalbuminemia may be contributing factors to the noted adverse reactions. Conclusion/Clinical Relevance The cases described highlight the importance of recognizing ertapenem-associated hallucinations in SCI patients. The population is particularly vulnerable due to risk factors for MDR infections necessitating ertapenem use, possible overestimation of renal function, and a high prevalence of hypoalbuminemia.

Visual Arts and Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibson, Marcia A.; Larson, Meredith A.

2007-01-01

The focus on academic performance testing in elementary schools has caused a decrease in student experience in the arts. Visual arts (drawing, painting, sculpture, and collage) have been minimized in elementary schools. Without exposure to the special avenues of cognitive development and personal expression nurtured by visual arts, students are…

Comparing the Effects of Elementary Music and Visual Arts Lessons on Standardized Mathematics Test Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Molly Elizabeth

2016-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to compare the effect elementary music and visual arts lessons had on third through sixth grade standardized mathematics test scores. Inferential statistics were used to compare the differences between test scores of students who took in-school, elementary, music instruction during the…

Increased thalamic resting-state connectivity as a core driver of LSD-induced hallucinations.

PubMed

Müller, F; Lenz, C; Dolder, P; Lang, U; Schmidt, A; Liechti, M; Borgwardt, S

2017-12-01

It has been proposed that the thalamocortical system is an important site of action of hallucinogenic drugs and an essential component of the neural correlates of consciousness. Hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD can be used to induce profoundly altered states of consciousness, and it is thus of interest to test the effects of these drugs on this system. 100 μg LSD was administrated orally to 20 healthy participants prior to fMRI assessment. Whole brain thalamic functional connectivity was measured using ROI-to-ROI and ROI-to-voxel approaches. Correlation analyses were used to explore relationships between thalamic connectivity to regions involved in auditory and visual hallucinations and subjective ratings on auditory and visual drug effects. LSD caused significant alterations in all dimensions of the 5D-ASC scale and significantly increased thalamic functional connectivity to various cortical regions. Furthermore, LSD-induced functional connectivity measures between the thalamus and the right fusiform gyrus and insula correlated significantly with subjective auditory and visual drug effects. Hallucinogenic drug effects might be provoked by facilitations of cortical excitability via thalamocortical interactions. Our findings have implications for the understanding of the mechanism of action of hallucinogenic drugs and provide further insight into the role of the 5-HT 2A -receptor in altered states of consciousness. © 2017 The Authors Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Auditory hallucinations induced by trazodone

PubMed Central

Shiotsuki, Ippei; Terao, Takeshi; Ishii, Nobuyoshi; Hatano, Koji

2014-01-01

A 26-year-old female outpatient presenting with a depressive state suffered from auditory hallucinations at night. Her auditory hallucinations did not respond to blonanserin or paliperidone, but partially responded to risperidone. In view of the possibility that her auditory hallucinations began after starting trazodone, trazodone was discontinued, leading to a complete resolution of her auditory hallucinations. Furthermore, even after risperidone was decreased and discontinued, her auditory hallucinations did not recur. These findings suggest that trazodone may induce auditory hallucinations in some susceptible patients. PMID:24700048

Internal versus External Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia: Symptom and Course Correlates

PubMed Central

Docherty, Nancy M.; Dinzeo, Thomas J.; McCleery, Amanda; Bell, Emily K.; Shakeel, Mohammed K.; Moe, Aubrey

2015-01-01

Introduction The auditory hallucinations associated with schizophrenia are phenomenologically diverse. “External” hallucinations classically have been considered to reflect more severe psychopathology than “internal” hallucinations, but empirical support has been equivocal. Methods We examined associations of “internal” v. “external” hallucinations with (a) other characteristics of the hallucinations, (b) severity of other symptoms, and (c) course of illness variables, in a sample of 97 stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who experienced auditory hallucinations. Results Patients with internal hallucinations did not differ from those with external hallucinations on severity of other symptoms. However, they reported their hallucinations to be more emotionally negative, distressing, and long-lasting, less controllable, and less likely to remit over time. They also were more likely to experience voices commenting, conversing, or commanding. However, they also were more likely to have insight into the self-generated nature of their voices. Patients with internal hallucinations were not older, but had a later age of illness onset. Conclusions Differences in characteristics of auditory hallucinations are associated with differences in other characteristics of the disorder, and hence may be relevant to identifying subgroups of patients that are more homogeneous with respect to their underlying disease processes. PMID:25530157

Culture and Hallucinations: Overview and Future Directions

PubMed Central

Larøi, Frank; Luhrmann, Tanya Marie; Bell, Vaughan; Christian, William A.; Deshpande, Smita; Fernyhough, Charles; Jenkins, Janis; Woods, Angela

2014-01-01

A number of studies have explored hallucinations as complex experiences involving interactions between psychological, biological, and environmental factors and mechanisms. Nevertheless, relatively little attention has focused on the role of culture in shaping hallucinations. This article reviews the published research, drawing on the expertise of both anthropologists and psychologists. We argue that the extant body of work suggests that culture does indeed have a significant impact on the experience, understanding, and labeling of hallucinations and that there may be important theoretical and clinical consequences of that observation. We find that culture can affect what is identified as a hallucination, that there are different patterns of hallucination among the clinical and nonclinical populations, that hallucinations are often culturally meaningful, that hallucinations occur at different rates in different settings; that culture affects the meaning and characteristics of hallucinations associated with psychosis, and that the cultural variations of psychotic hallucinations may have implications for the clinical outcome of those who struggle with psychosis. We conclude that a clinician should never assume that the mere report of what seems to be a hallucination is necessarily a symptom of pathology and that the patient’s cultural background needs to be taken into account when assessing and treating hallucinations. PMID:24936082

An autopsy case of cortical superficial siderosis with persistent abnormal behavior.

PubMed

Torii, Youta; Iritani, Shuji; Fujishiro, Hiroshige; Sekiguchi, Hirotaka; Habuchi, Chikako; Umeda, Kentaro; Matsunaga, Shinji; Mimuro, Maya; Ozaki, Norio; Yoshida, Mari; Fujita, Kiyoshi

2016-12-01

In recent years, MRI has revealed cortical superficial siderosis (cSS), which exhibits hemosiderin deposition in only the cortical surface. However, the associations between the histological findings and clinical symptoms of cSS remain unclear. We herein report an autopsy case of a 75-year-old Japanese man with cSS with persistent abnormal behavior according to cognitive impairment, hallucination and delusion. At 73 years of age, the patient presented with unusual behavior that indicated auditory hallucination and delusion. One year later, he was admitted to the hospital for malignant lymphoma. On admission, cognitive impairment was detected by a screening test. Soon after hospitalization, he presented with active delirium including visual hallucination and delusion. The patient's excited behavior was improved by the administration of a major tranquilizer. However, the abnormal behavior and cognitive impairment persisted. At 75 years of age, he died of heart failure. A neuropathological investigation revealed hemosiderin depositions in the superficial layer of the cortex in the medial and lateral frontal lobe, the lateral temporal lobe, the parietal lobe, and the medial and lateral occipital lobe. Neuritic plaques and diffuse plaques were extensively observed, which corresponded to Braak stage C and CERAD B, although NFTs were observed that corresponded to Braak stage II. Cortical amyloid angiopathy was not observed in any regions. Ischemic change of brain was also mild. Our report suggests that localized deposition of hemosiderin in the cortex might affect the manifestation of cognitive impairments and hallucination. Further clinicopathological studies are needed to clarify the clinical manifestations of patients with cSS. © 2016 Japanese Society of Neuropathology.

The pedunculopontine nucleus is related to visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease: preliminary results of a voxel-based morphometry study.

PubMed

Janzen, J; van 't Ent, D; Lemstra, A W; Berendse, H W; Barkhof, F; Foncke, E M J

2012-01-01

Visual hallucinations (VH) are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and lead to a poor quality of life. For a long time, dopaminergic therapy was considered to be the most important risk factor for the development of VH in PD. Recently, the cholinergic system, including the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), has been implicated in the pathophysiology of VH. The aim of the present study was to investigate grey matter density of the PPN region and one of its projection areas, the thalamus. Thirteen non-demented PD patients with VH were compared to 16 non-demented PD patients without VH, 13 demented PD patients (PDD) with VH and 11 patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Isotropic 3-D T1-weighted MRI images (3T) were analysed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) with the PPN region and thalamus as ROIs. PD and PDD patients with VH showed grey matter reductions of the PPN region and the thalamus compared to PD patients without VH. VH in PD(D) patients are associated with atrophy of the PPN region and its thalamic target area, suggesting that a cholinergic deficit may be involved in the development of VH in PD(D).

Culture and hallucinations: overview and future directions.

PubMed

Larøi, Frank; Luhrmann, Tanya Marie; Bell, Vaughan; Christian, William A; Deshpande, Smita; Fernyhough, Charles; Jenkins, Janis; Woods, Angela

2014-07-01

A number of studies have explored hallucinations as complex experiences involving interactions between psychological, biological, and environmental factors and mechanisms. Nevertheless, relatively little attention has focused on the role of culture in shaping hallucinations. This article reviews the published research, drawing on the expertise of both anthropologists and psychologists. We argue that the extant body of work suggests that culture does indeed have a significant impact on the experience, understanding, and labeling of hallucinations and that there may be important theoretical and clinical consequences of that observation. We find that culture can affect what is identified as a hallucination, that there are different patterns of hallucination among the clinical and nonclinical populations, that hallucinations are often culturally meaningful, that hallucinations occur at different rates in different settings; that culture affects the meaning and characteristics of hallucinations associated with psychosis, and that the cultural variations of psychotic hallucinations may have implications for the clinical outcome of those who struggle with psychosis. We conclude that a clinician should never assume that the mere report of what seems to be a hallucination is necessarily a symptom of pathology and that the patient's cultural background needs to be taken into account when assessing and treating hallucinations. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center.

The psychopathology of hallucinations--a methodological analysis.

PubMed

Lothane, Z

1982-12-01

A psychiatry based on operational and dynamic principles requires a new definition of hallucinations which is both heuristically useful and helpful for the understanding of the phenomenon of hallucinations. The time-hallowed definition of hallucinations as 'perceptions without stimulation of the sense organs' is both incorrect and a relic of late 19th century para-physiological thinking. Heuristically it leads into a blind alley. Central to the redefinition of hallucinations is the conception of the hallucinator, the author of his hallucinations, homologous to the dreamer, the author of his dreams. This idea was held firmly by early French 19th century clinicians, who were inspired by a holistic and operational conception in philosophy. Hallucinations are a multifaceted complex human mental activity and defined by means of a number of parameters held together as an indivisible whole. Hallucinations are described phenomenologically, psychologically, dynamically, psychodynamically, emotionally, logically, nosologically, and interpersonally.

The dark side of sniffing: paint colour affects intoxication experiences among adolescent inhalant users.

PubMed

Takagi, Michael J; Yücel, Murat; Lubman, Dan I

2010-07-01

Inhalant abuse among adolescents is a significant health concern in many countries; however, limited research has explored whether the intoxication experience differs between commonly used inhalants. The aim of the present study was to examine how exposure to different types of paints (chrome vs. non-chrome) were experienced by adolescent users. Sixteen adolescent (aged 15-19 years) regular inhalant users completed a semistructured questionnaire enquiring about their inhalant use. Participants were divided into two groups based on paint colour preference [chrome paints (n = 10) and non-chrome paints (n = 6)] and were compared using appropriate statistical tests. Relative to non-chrome users, the chrome-using group were more likely to report deliberately inhaling to experience altered perceptions (such as visual and auditory hallucinations). In addition, a significantly greater proportion of chrome users reported that the perceptual alterations they experienced after sniffing paint differed between paint colours, with chrome colours being associated with more vivid hallucinations. While both chrome and non-chrome users reported a comparable level of pleasure from paint sniffing, chrome paint users were more likely to be motivated by the potential to hallucinate. Our findings suggest that the type of inhalant used is an important consideration that may have relevance to clinical treatment.

Hallucinations, dreaming, and frequent dozing in Parkinson disease: impact of right-hemisphere neural networks.

PubMed

Stavitsky, Karina; McNamara, Patrick; Durso, Raymon; Harris, Erica; Auerbach, Sanford; Cronin-Golomb, Alice

2008-09-01

To relate sleep disturbances in Parkinson disease (PD) to hemispheric asymmetry of initial presentation. Sleep disturbances are common in PD arising from the neurodegenerative process underlying the disease, which is usually lateralized at onset. Patients with left-side Parkinson disease onset (LPD: right hemisphere dysfunction) exhibit reduced vigilance relative to those with right-side Parkinson disease onset (RPD: left hemisphere dysfunction), leading us to hypothesize that sleep-related disturbances, particularly excessive daytime sleepiness, would be more severe for LPD than for RPD. Thirty-one nondemented participants with PD (17 RPD and 14 LPD) and 17 age-matched control (CO) participants with chronic health conditions were administered the Parkinson Disease Sleep Scale and polysomnography was performed on a subset of the PD participants. Both PD subgroups exhibited more nighttime motor symptoms than the CO group, but only LPD endorsed more nocturnal hallucinations and daytime dozing. Controlling for mood additionally revealed more vivid dreaming in LPD than RPD. There were no significant differences between LPD and RPD on measures of sleep architecture. Increased dreaming, hallucinations, and daytime somnolescence in LPD may be related to changes in right-hemisphere neural networks implicated in the generation and control of visual images, arousal, and vigilance. Our results underscore the need to consider side of onset in regard to sleep disturbances in PD.

Where the imaginal appears real: A positron emission tomography study of auditory hallucinations

PubMed Central

Szechtman, Henry; Woody, Erik; Bowers, Kenneth S.; Nahmias, Claude

1998-01-01

An auditory hallucination shares with imaginal hearing the property of being self-generated and with real hearing the experience of the stimulus being an external one. To investigate where in the brain an auditory event is “tagged” as originating from the external world, we used positron emission tomography to identify neural sites activated by both real hearing and hallucinations but not by imaginal hearing. Regional cerebral blood flow was measured during hearing, imagining, and hallucinating in eight healthy, highly hypnotizable male subjects prescreened for their ability to hallucinate under hypnosis (hallucinators). Control subjects were six highly hypnotizable male volunteers who lacked the ability to hallucinate under hypnosis (nonhallucinators). A region in the right anterior cingulate (Brodmann area 32) was activated in the group of hallucinators when they heard an auditory stimulus and when they hallucinated hearing it but not when they merely imagined hearing it. The same experimental conditions did not yield this activation in the group of nonhallucinators. Inappropriate activation of the right anterior cingulate may lead self-generated thoughts to be experienced as external, producing spontaneous auditory hallucinations. PMID:9465124

Buzz Juice: Neurological sequelae of synthetic cannabinoids.

PubMed

Kak, Manisha; Mikhail, Fadi; Yano, Sho T; Guan, Rui; Lukas, Rimas V

2017-03-01

The use of synthetic cannabinoids is becoming more widespread. Familiarity with the potential toxicities associated with these agents will grow in importance. We present a case of a woman who developed onset of confusion, visual hallucinations, and ataxia after vaporizing synthetic cannabinoids. MRI imaging demonstrated restricted diffusion and increased T2/FLAIR signal in the corpus callosum and cerebellar peduncles. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Orientation and Mobility, Reading, and Math: Analysis of Data for Children with Visual Impairments from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Dawn L.

2010-01-01

This dissertation research comprised three studies focused on vision-specific skills, and their association with functional and academic outcomes for school-age students with visual impairment. The studies involved analysis of secondary data for 850 students with visual impairment who participated in the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal…

The Effects of Visual Art Integration on Reading at the Elementary Level. A Review of Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarty, Kristine A.

2007-01-01

Although visual art is considered a subject deemed by the federal government as part of the core curriculum, many elementary schools do not include this subject into the current core curriculum of studies. This review of literature provides insight through current qualitative and quantitative studies on the effectiveness of including visual art…

Suggestibility and signal detection performance in hallucination-prone students.

PubMed

Alganami, Fatimah; Varese, Filippo; Wagstaff, Graham F; Bentall, Richard P

2017-03-01

Auditory hallucinations are associated with signal detection biases. We examine the extent to which suggestions influence performance on a signal detection task (SDT) in highly hallucination-prone and low hallucination-prone students. We also explore the relationship between trait suggestibility, dissociation and hallucination proneness. In two experiments, students completed on-line measures of hallucination proneness (the revised Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale; LSHS-R), trait suggestibility (Inventory of Suggestibility) and dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale-II). Students in the upper and lower tertiles of the LSHS-R performed an auditory SDT. Prior to the task, suggestions were made pertaining to the number of expected targets (Experiment 1, N = 60: high vs. low suggestions; Experiment 2, N = 62, no suggestion vs. high suggestion vs. no voice suggestion). Correlational and regression analyses indicated that trait suggestibility and dissociation predicted hallucination proneness. Highly hallucination-prone students showed a higher SDT bias in both studies. In Experiment 1, both bias scores were significantly affected by suggestions to the same degree. In Experiment 2, highly hallucination-prone students were more reactive to the high suggestion condition than the controls. Suggestions may affect source-monitoring judgments, and this effect may be greater in those who have a predisposition towards hallucinatory experiences.

Auditory hallucinations and PTSD in ex-POWS.

PubMed

Crompton, Laura; Lahav, Yael; Solomon, Zahava

2017-01-01

Literature has suggested that auditory hallucinations might be prevalent in the general population and could be linked to the experience of trauma. This prospective study examines the prevalence of auditory hallucinations in trauma survivors and its association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, over time. Former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) from the 1973 Yom Kippur War (n = 99) with and without PTSD and comparable veterans (n = 103) were assessed twice, in 1991 (T1) and 2003 (T2) in regard to auditory hallucinations and PTSD symptoms. Findings indicated that ex-POWs who suffered from PTSD reported higher levels of auditory hallucinations at T2 as well as increased hallucinations over time, compared to ex-POWs without PTSD and combatants who did not endure captivity. The relation between PTSD and auditory hallucinations was unidirectional, so that the PTSD overall score at T1 predicted an increase in auditory hallucinations between T1 and T2, but not vice versa. Assessing the role of PTSD clusters in predicting hallucinations revealed that intrusion symptoms had a unique contribution, compared to avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms. The findings suggest that auditory hallucinations might be a consequence of the posttraumatic reaction among veterans.

Hallucinations and sleep disorders in PD

PubMed Central

Goetz, Christopher G.; Ouyang, Bichun; Negron, Alice; Stebbins, Glenn T.

2010-01-01

Objective: To assess prospectively progression and relationship of hallucinations and sleep disorders over a 10-year longitudinal study of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Methods: Eighty-nine patients with PD were recruited to fill cells of normal sleep without hallucinations (n = 20), sleep fragmentation only (n = 20), vivid dreams/nightmares (n = 20), hallucinations with insight (n = 20), and hallucinations without insight (n = 9). At baseline, 0.5, 1.5, 4, 6, and 10 years, sleep disorders and hallucinations were assessed by standardized scales with the longitudinal data analyzed by generalized estimating equations with assumptions of linearity in time. Results: At 10 years, we could account for all subjects (27 interviewed, 61 deceased, and 1 too ill for interview). Hallucination prevalence and severity increased over time (p < 0.0001, p = 0.0001). Acting out dreams also increased over time (p = 0.001). In contrast, presence of vivid dreams/nightmares or sleep fragmentation did not increase over time. For all visits, the prevalence of sleep fragmentation did not differ between subjects with vs without hallucinations (odds ratio [OR] = 1.50, p = 0.09). However, severe sleep fragmentation was associated with concurrent hallucinations (OR 2.01, p = 0.006). The presence of hallucinations was also highly associated with concurrent vivid dreams/nightmares (OR = 2.60, p < 0.0001) and with concurrent acting out dreams (OR = 2.38, p = 0.0004). Among the baseline nonhallucinators, no sleep abnormalities at study entry predicted future development of hallucinations. Conclusions: Hallucinations and sleep abnormalities follow very different patterns of progression in PD over 10 years. Whereas patients with hallucinations often have concurrent sleep aberrations, no sleep problem is predictive of future hallucinations. GLOSSARY CI = confidence interval; GEE = generalized estimating equation; MMSE = Mini-Mental State Examination; OR = odds ratio; PD = Parkinson disease; PSQI = Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; UPDRS = Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale; UPDRSm = motor section of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. PMID:20962287

Cognitive correlates of hallucinations and delusions in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Factor, Stewart A; Scullin, Michael K; Sollinger, Ann B; Land, Julia O; Wood-Siverio, Cathy; Zanders, Lavezza; Freeman, Alan; Bliwise, Donald L; McDonald, William M; Goldstein, Felicia C

2014-12-15

Hallucinations and delusions that complicate Parkinson's disease (PD) could lead to nursing home placement and are linked to increased mortality. Cognitive impairments are typically associated with the presence of hallucinations but there are no data regarding whether such a relationship exists with delusions. We hypothesized that hallucinations would be associated with executive and visuospatial disturbance. An exploratory examination of cognitive correlates of delusions was also completed to address the question of whether they differ from hallucinations. 144 PD subjects completed a neuropsychological battery to assess cognition and the SAPS to examine psychosis. Correlational analyses assessed associations between hallucinations and delusions with cognitive domains. 48 subjects (33%) reported psychotic symptoms: 25 (17%) experienced hallucinations without delusions, 23 (16%) had symptoms dominated by delusions. Severity and/or number of hallucination subtypes were significantly correlated with lower scores in language, memory, attention, executive functioning, and visuospatial ability. Correlations with delusions were non-significant. Tests of differences in the size of the correlations between groups revealed a significant relationship between language and visuospatial performance with hallucinations. Cognitive correlates of hallucinations and delusions appear to be different in PD, suggesting distinct pathogenic mechanisms and possibly anatomical substrates. Hence, delusions may not share the same associations with dementia as hallucinations. Since this is a new finding, further studies will be needed to confirm our results. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations: pathological phenomena?

PubMed

Ohayon, M M; Priest, R G; Caulet, M; Guilleminault, C

1996-10-01

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are common in narcolepsy. However, the prevalence of these phenomena in the general population is uncertain. A representative community sample of 4972 people in the UK, aged 15-100, was interviewed by telephone (79.6% of those contacted). Interviews were performed by lay interviewers using a computerised system that guided the interviewer through the interview process. Thirty-seven per cent of the sample reported experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations and 12.5% reported hypnopompic hallucinations. Both types of hallucinations were significantly more common among subjects with symptoms of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness or mental disorders. According to this study, the prevalence of narcolepsy in the UK is 0.04%. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations were much more common than expected, with a prevalence that far exceeds that which can be explained by the association with narcolepsy. Hypnopompic hallucinations may be a better indicator of narcolepsy than hypnagogic hallucinations in subjects reporting excessive daytime sleepiness.

A Study of the Effectiveness of Three Types of Visual Devices on the Achievement of Selected Theoretical Concepts by Elementary School Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, Patrick Joseph

The purpose of this study was to determine the relative effectiveness of three different types of visual devices in an instructional program designed to teach an understanding of selected theoretical science concepts to elementary school children. The visual devices were prepared using Bruner's three modes of representation (enactive, iconic, and…

Metacognitions in patients with hallucinations and obsessive-compulsive disorder: the superstition factor.

PubMed

García-Montes, José M; Pérez-Alvarez, Marino; Soto Balbuena, Cristina; Perona Garcelán, Salvador; Cangas, Adolfo J

2006-08-01

On the basis of the analogy between intrusive thoughts and auditory hallucinations established by Morrison et al. [(1995). Intrusive thoughts and auditory hallucinations: a cognitive approach. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 265-280], the present work compares the metacognitive beliefs and processes of five groups of patients (current hallucinators, never-hallucinated people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, recovered hallucinators, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients, and a clinical control group) and a non-clinical group. The results show that of the five metacognitive factors considered in this study, two were found to be different in the current hallucinators group in comparison to any other group in the design. Likewise, it is found that the metacognitive beliefs of the current hallucinators coincide with those of the OCD patients in various factors, particularly that relating to superstition, and this is interpreted as lending support to the model of Morrison et al. (1995). Furthermore, the results are discussed in the light of existing research on Thought-Action Fusion, stressing the role that may be played by superstitious beliefs and magical thinking in auditory hallucinations and OCD.

[Clinical Neuropsychology of Dementia with Lewy Bodies].

PubMed

Nagahama, Yasuhiro

2016-02-01

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) shows lesser memory impairment and more severe visuospatial disability than Alzheimer disease (AD). Although deficits in both consolidation and retrieval underlie the memory impairment, retrieval deficit is predominant in DLB. Visuospatial dysfunctions in DLB are related to the impairments in both ventral and dorsal streams of higher visual information processing, and lower visual processing in V1/V2 may also be impaired. Attention and executive functions are more widely disturbed in DLB than in AD. Imitation of finger gestures is impaired more frequently in DLB than in other mild dementia, and provides additional information for diagnosis of mild dementia, especially for DLB. Pareidolia, which lies between hallucination and visual misperception, is found frequently in DLB, but its mechanism is still under investigation.

Predictions penetrate perception: Converging insights from brain, behaviour and disorder

PubMed Central

O’Callaghan, Claire; Kveraga, Kestutis; Shine, James M; Adams, Reginald B.; Bar, Moshe

2018-01-01

It is argued that during ongoing visual perception, the brain is generating top-down predictions to facilitate, guide and constrain the processing of incoming sensory input. Here we demonstrate that these predictions are drawn from a diverse range of cognitive processes, in order to generate the richest and most informative prediction signals. This is consistent with a central role for cognitive penetrability in visual perception. We review behavioural and mechanistic evidence that indicate a wide spectrum of domains—including object recognition, contextual associations, cognitive biases and affective state—that can directly influence visual perception. We combine these insights from the healthy brain with novel observations from neuropsychiatric disorders involving visual hallucinations, which highlight the consequences of imbalance between top-down signals and incoming sensory information. Together, these lines of evidence converge to indicate that predictive penetration, be it cognitive, social or emotional, should be considered a fundamental framework that supports visual perception. PMID:27222169

Visual cortex in dementia with Lewy bodies: magnetic resonance imaging study

PubMed Central

Taylor, John-Paul; Firbank, Michael J.; He, Jiabao; Barnett, Nicola; Pearce, Sarah; Livingstone, Anthea; Vuong, Quoc; McKeith, Ian G.; O’Brien, John T.

2012-01-01

Background Visual hallucinations and visuoperceptual deficits are common in dementia with Lewy bodies, suggesting that cortical visual function may be abnormal. Aims To investigate: (1) cortical visual function using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); and (2) the nature and severity of perfusion deficits in visual areas using arterial spin labelling (ASL)-MRI. Method In total, 17 participants with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB group) and 19 similarly aged controls were presented with simple visual stimuli (checkerboard, moving dots, and objects) during fMRI and subsequently underwent ASL-MRI (DLB group n = 15, control group n = 19). Results Functional activations were evident in visual areas in both the DLB and control groups in response to checkerboard and objects stimuli but reduced visual area V5/MT (middle temporal) activation occurred in the DLB group in response to motion stimuli. Posterior cortical perfusion deficits occurred in the DLB group, particularly in higher visual areas. Conclusions Higher visual areas, particularly occipito-parietal, appear abnormal in dementia with Lewy bodies, while there is a preservation of function in lower visual areas (V1 and V2/3). PMID:22500014

Musical hallucination associated with hearing loss.

PubMed

Sanchez, Tanit Ganz; Rocha, Savya Cybelle Milhomem; Knobel, Keila Alessandra Baraldi; Kii, Márcia Akemi; Santos, Rosa Maria Rodrigues dos; Pereira, Cristiana Borges

2011-01-01

In spite of the fact that musical hallucination have a significant impact on patients' lives, they have received very little attention of experts. Some researchers agree on a combination of peripheral and central dysfunctions as the mechanism that causes hallucination. The most accepted physiopathology of musical hallucination associated to hearing loss (caused by cochlear lesion, cochlear nerve lesion or by interruption of mesencephalon or pontine auditory information) is the disinhibition of auditory memory circuits due to sensory deprivation. Concerning the cortical area involved in musical hallucination, there is evidence that the excitatory mechanism of the superior temporal gyrus, as in epilepsies, is responsible for musical hallucination. In musical release hallucination there is also activation of the auditory association cortex. Finally, considering the laterality, functional studies with musical perception and imagery in normal individuals showed that songs with words cause bilateral temporal activation and melodies activate only the right lobe. The effect of hearing aids on the improvement of musical hallucination as a result of the hearing loss improvement is well documented. It happens because auditory hallucination may be influenced by the external acoustical environment. Neuroleptics, antidepressants and anticonvulsants have been used in the treatment of musical hallucination. Cases of improvement with the administration of carbamazepine, meclobemide and donepezil were reported, but the results obtained were not consistent.

Neuropsychopharmacology of auditory hallucinations: insights from pharmacological functional MRI and perspectives for future research.

PubMed

Johnsen, Erik; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Fusar-Poli, Paolo; Kroken, Rune A; Kompus, Kristiina

2013-01-01

Experiencing auditory verbal hallucinations is a prominent symptom in schizophrenia that also occurs in subjects at enhanced risk for psychosis and in the general population. Drug treatment of auditory hallucinations is challenging, because the current understanding is limited with respect to the neural mechanisms involved, as well as how CNS drugs, such as antipsychotics, influence the subjective experience and neurophysiology of hallucinations. In this article, the authors review studies of the effect of antipsychotic medication on brain activation as measured with functional MRI in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations. First, the authors examine the neural correlates of ongoing auditory hallucinations. Then, the authors critically discuss studies addressing the antipsychotic effect on the neural correlates of complex cognitive tasks. Current evidence suggests that blood oxygen level-dependant effects of antipsychotic drugs reflect specific, regional effects but studies on the neuropharmacology of auditory hallucinations are scarce. Future directions for pharmacological neuroimaging of auditory hallucinations are discussed.

Making Visual Arts Learning Visible in a Generalist Elementary School Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Susan; Watkins, Marnee; Grant, Gina

2017-01-01

This article presents the story of one elementary school teacher's shift in art praxis through her involvement in a research project aimed at facilitating participatory arts-based communities of practice. Qualitative methods and social constructivism informed Professional Learning Interventions (PLIs) involving: (1) a visual arts workshop, (2)…

Dress: Images of America. Elementary Version.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Edward; And Others

Designed to accompany an audiovisual filmstrip series devoted to presenting a visual history of life in America, this guide contains an elementary school (grades 2-6) unit which traces the history of dress in America over the last century. Using authentic visuals including posters, paintings, advertising, documentary photography, movies, cartoons,…

Elementary Teachers' Selection and Use of Visual Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Tammy D.; Jones, M. Gail

2018-01-01

As science grows in complexity, science teachers face an increasing challenge of helping students interpret models that represent complex science systems. Little is known about how teachers select and use models when planning lessons. This mixed methods study investigated the pedagogical approaches and visual models used by elementary in-service…

City: Images of America. Elementary Version.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Edward; And Others

Designed to accompany an audiovisual filmstrip series devoted to presenting a visual history of life in America, this guide contains an elementary social studies (grades 2-6) unit on the American city over the last century. Using authentic visuals including paintings, posters, advertising, documentary photography, and cartoons, the guide offers…

Hallucinations, dreaming and frequent dozing in Parkinson’s disease: Impact of right-hemisphere neural networks

PubMed Central

Stavitsky, Karina; McNamara, Patrick; Durso, Raymon; Harris, Erica; Auerbach, Sanford; Cronin-Golomb, Alice

2008-01-01

Objective To relate sleep disturbances in Parkinson’s disease (PD) to hemispheric asymmetry of initial presentation. Background Sleep disturbances are common in PD arising from the neurodegenerative process underlying the disease, which is usually lateralized at onset. Patients with left-side onset (LPD: right hemisphere dysfunction) exhibit reduced vigilance relative to those with right-side onset (RPD: left hemisphere dysfunction), leading us to hypothesize that sleep-related disturbances, particularly excessive daytime sleepiness, would be more severe for LPD than for RPD. Methods Thirty-one non-demented participants with PD (17 RPD and 14 LPD) and 17 age-matched control participants with chronic health conditions (CO) were administered the Parkinson’s Disease Sleep Scale and polysomnography was performed on a subset of the PD participants. Results Both PD subgroups exhibited more nighttime motor symptoms than the CO group, but only LPD endorsed more nocturnal hallucinations and daytime dozing. Controlling for mood additionally revealed more vivid dreaming in LPD than RPD. There were no significant differences between LPD and RPD on measures of sleep architecture. Conclusions Increased dreaming, hallucinations, and daytime somnolescence in LPD may be related to changes in right-hemisphere neural networks implicated in the generation and control of visual images, arousal and vigilance. Our results underscore the need to consider side of onset in regard to sleep disturbances in PD. PMID:18797256

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations during sleep paralysis: neurological and cultural construction of the night-mare.

PubMed

Cheyne, J A; Rueffer, S D; Newby-Clark, I R

1999-09-01

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences (HHEs) accompanying sleep paralysis (SP) are often cited as sources of accounts of supernatural nocturnal assaults and paranormal experiences. Descriptions of such experiences are remarkably consistent across time and cultures and consistent also with known mechanisms of REM states. A three-factor structural model of HHEs based on their relations both to cultural narratives and REM neurophysiology is developed and tested with several large samples. One factor, labeled Intruder, consisting of sensed presence, fear, and auditory and visual hallucinations, is conjectured to originate in a hypervigilant state initiated in the midbrain. Another factor, Incubus, comprising pressure on the chest, breathing difficulties, and pain, is attributed to effects of hyperpolarization of motoneurons on perceptions of respiration. These two factors have in common an implied alien "other" consistent with occult narratives identified in numerous contemporary and historical cultures. A third factor, labeled Unusual Bodily Experiences, consisting of floating/flying sensations, out-of-body experiences, and feelings of bliss, is related to physically impossible experiences generated by conflicts of endogenous and exogenous activation related to body position, orientation, and movement. Implications of this last factor for understanding of orientational primacy in self-consciousness are considered. Central features of the model developed here are consistent with recent work on hallucinations associated with hypnosis and schizophrenia. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Predicting compliance with command hallucinations: anger, impulsivity and appraisals of voices' power and intent.

PubMed

Bucci, Sandra; Birchwood, Max; Twist, Laura; Tarrier, Nicholas; Emsley, Richard; Haddock, Gillian

2013-06-01

Command hallucinations are experienced by 33-74% of people who experience voices, with varying levels of compliance reported. Compliance with command hallucinations can result in acts of aggression, violence, suicide and self-harm; the typical response however is non-compliance or appeasement. Two factors associated with such dangerous behaviours are anger and impulsivity, however few studies have examined their relationship with compliance to command hallucinations. The current study aimed to examine the roles of anger and impulsivity on compliance with command hallucinations in people diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. The study was a cross-sectional design and included individuals who reported auditory hallucinations in the past month. Subjects completed a variety of self-report questionnaire measures. Thirty-two people experiencing command hallucinations, from both in-patient and community settings, were included. The tendency to appraise the voice as powerful, to be impulsive, to experience anger and to regulate anger were significantly associated with compliance with command hallucinations to do harm. Two factors emerged as significant independent predictors of compliance with command hallucinations; omnipotence and impulsivity. An interaction between omnipotence and compliance with commands, via a link with impulsivity, is considered and important clinical factors in the assessment of risk when working with clients experiencing command hallucinations are recommended. The data is highly suggestive and warrants further investigation with a larger sample. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Therapeutic Effects of Rivastigmine and Alfa-Lipoic Acid Combination in the Charles Bonnet Syndrome: Electroencephalography Correlates.

PubMed

Hanoglu, Lutfu; Yildiz, Sultan; Polat, Burcu; Demirci, Sema; Tavli, Ahmet Mithat; Yilmaz, Nesrin; Yulug, Burak

2016-01-01

Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) is a rare clinical condition which is characterized by complex hallucinations in visually impaired patients. The pathophysiology of this disorder remains largely unknown, and there is still no proven treatment for this disease. In our study, we aimed to investigate the neural activity through Electroencephalography (EEG) power and evaluate the effect of rivastigmine in combination with alpha-lipoic acid on hallucination in two CBS patients with diabetic retinopathy. EEG data was recorded with standard routine EEG protocols for both patients in our electrophysiological research laboratory (REMER Clinical Electrophysiology and Neuromodulation Research and Application Laboratory) with Brain Vision Recorder (Brainproduct, Munich, Germany). All spectral analyses were processed by BrainVision Analyzer 2 (Brainproduct, Munich, Germany, 2.0.4 Version) in 128 Hz sample rates and the EEG recording and analysis was performed before the administration of rivastigmine (4.5 mg/daily and five patch daily for the first and second patients, respectively) in combination with alpha-lipoic acid (600 mg/daily) for both patients while they were not hallucinated during the time period recordings. Based on our measurement protocol, we have compared the patients in the study group with the three control subjects who were found to be normal except of visual disturbances secondary to significant diabetic retinopathy. Highest theta power values were found in right occipital and left temporo-parietal regions for first and second CBS patients, respectively. Additionally, power spectra were lower in two cases as compared to their control groups in the alpha band for all electrodes. We have also shown that acid rivastigmine in combination with alpha-lipoic exerted significant anti-hallucinatory efficiency. Our present findings could support the hypothesis that increased activation of specific areas in the source monitoring system plays an important role in the pathogenesis of CBS. In addition, rivastigmine in combination with alpha-lipoic acid could be a new valuable option for CBS patients.

Sleep Paralysis in Brazilian Folklore and Other Cultures: A Brief Review

PubMed Central

de Sá, José F. R.; Mota-Rolim, Sérgio A.

2016-01-01

Sleep paralysis (SP) is a dissociative state that occurs mainly during awakening. SP is characterized by altered motor, perceptual, emotional and cognitive functions, such as inability to perform voluntary movements, visual hallucinations, feelings of chest pressure, delusions about a frightening presence and, in some cases, fear of impending death. Most people experience SP rarely, but typically when sleeping in supine position; however, SP is considered a disease (parasomnia) when recurrent and/or associated to emotional burden. Interestingly, throughout human history, different peoples interpreted SP under a supernatural view. For example, Canadian Eskimos attribute SP to spells of shamans, who hinder the ability to move, and provoke hallucinations of a shapeless presence. In the Japanese tradition, SP is due to a vengeful spirit who suffocates his enemies while sleeping. In Nigerian culture, a female demon attacks during dreaming and provokes paralysis. A modern manifestation of SP is the report of “alien abductions”, experienced as inability to move during awakening associated with visual hallucinations of aliens. In all, SP is a significant example of how a specific biological phenomenon can be interpreted and shaped by different cultural contexts. In order to further explore the ethnopsychology of SP, in this review we present the “Pisadeira”, a character of Brazilian folklore originated in the country’s Southeast, but also found in other regions with variant names. Pisadeira is described as a crone with long fingernails who lurks on roofs at night and tramples on the chest of those who sleep on a full stomach with the belly up. This legend is mentioned in many anthropological accounts; however, we found no comprehensive reference on the Pisadeira from the perspective of sleep science. Here, we aim to fill this gap. We first review the neuropsychological aspects of SP, and then present the folk tale of the Pisadeira. Finally, we summarize the many historical and artistic manifestations of SP in different cultures, emphasizing the similarities and differences with the Pisadeira. PMID:27656151

Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Volume 3: Appendices A-S

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-01-01

nerve and blister agents evaluated in this appendix have been especially formulated to cause -major injuries or death to enemy forces in wartime...days. Hallucinations, particularly of visual type. Patients may exhibit selfdestructive acts l Seizures may occur, but true convulsions arc rare l Rare...lesions produced in experimental animals by GB and interprets the damage as caused by convulsions or seizure activity that kill neurons (nerve cells

Delirium following fesoterodine treatment for urgency incontinence in an 89-year old man.

PubMed

Charbonneau, Jeannie Medeiros; Bisset, Rania; Nguyen, Patrick Viet-Quoc

2016-01-01

We describe the case of an 89-year-old man who developed delirium following the introduction of fesoterodine to treat his urgency incontinence. The patient started experiencing visual hallucinations approximately five days after starting fesoterodine 4 mg once daily. Delirium resolved after fesoterodine was stopped. Despite the apparent safe cognitive profile due to its pharmacodynamic properties, fesoterodine should be used with caution in the elderly, frail population.

Soldier Performance in Continuous Operations. Administrative Manual for a Briefing and Seminar for Command and Staff Personnel

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-07-01

requirements entails a coordi- nated set of activities 2. Realistic continuous combat training creates a need for integrated scheduling 3. For some...what ways might the performance degradation resulting from continuous combat create unexpected problems in Com- mand coordination? * Uneven performance...visual experiences or hallucinations after 3 since the beginning of time. Man then is the "weak days, they were unable to communicate verbally, their

Charles Bonnet Syndrome: Evidence for a Generative Model in the Cortex?

PubMed Central

Reichert, David P.; Seriès, Peggy; Storkey, Amos J.

2013-01-01

Several theories propose that the cortex implements an internal model to explain, predict, and learn about sensory data, but the nature of this model is unclear. One condition that could be highly informative here is Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS), where loss of vision leads to complex, vivid visual hallucinations of objects, people, and whole scenes. CBS could be taken as indication that there is a generative model in the brain, specifically one that can synthesise rich, consistent visual representations even in the absence of actual visual input. The processes that lead to CBS are poorly understood. Here, we argue that a model recently introduced in machine learning, the deep Boltzmann machine (DBM), could capture the relevant aspects of (hypothetical) generative processing in the cortex. The DBM carries both the semantics of a probabilistic generative model and of a neural network. The latter allows us to model a concrete neural mechanism that could underlie CBS, namely, homeostatic regulation of neuronal activity. We show that homeostatic plasticity could serve to make the learnt internal model robust against e.g. degradation of sensory input, but overcompensate in the case of CBS, leading to hallucinations. We demonstrate how a wide range of features of CBS can be explained in the model and suggest a potential role for the neuromodulator acetylcholine. This work constitutes the first concrete computational model of CBS and the first application of the DBM as a model in computational neuroscience. Our results lend further credence to the hypothesis of a generative model in the brain. PMID:23874177

Negative hallucinations, dreams and hallucinations: The framing structure and its representation in the analytic setting.

PubMed

Perelberg, Rosine Jozef

2016-12-01

This paper explores the meaning of a patient's hallucinatory experiences in the course of a five times a week analysis. I will locate my understanding within the context of André Green's ideas on the role of the framing structure and the negative hallucination in the structuring of the mind. The understanding of the transference and countertransference was crucial in the creation of meaning and enabling the transformations that took place in the analytic process. Through a detailed analysis of a clinical example the author examines Bion's distinction between hysterical hallucinations and psychotic hallucinations and formulates her own hypothesis about the distinctions between the two. The paper suggests that whilst psychotic hallucinations express a conflict between life and death, in the hysterical hallucination it is between love and hate. The paper also contains some reflections on the dramatic nature of the analytic encounter. Copyright © 2016 Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Food: Images of America. Social Studies Unit, Elementary Grades 2-6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Edward; And Others

Designed to accompany an audiovisual filmstrip series devoted to presenting a visual history of life in America, this guide contains an elementary school (grades 2-6) unit on American food over the last century. Using authentic visuals including paintings, advertising, label art, documentary photography, and a movie still, the guide offers…

SPATIAL VISUALIZATION ABILITIES OF CENTRAL WASHINGTON STATE COLLEGE PROSPECTIVE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MARTIN, BERNARD LOYAL

INVESTIGATED WAS THE EXTENT TO WHICH STUDENTS COMPLETING PLANNED MATHEMATICS EDUCATION PROGRAMS (1) WERE PROFICIENT IN SPATIAL VISUALIZATION ABILITIES, AND (2) HAD DEVELOPED MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDINGS. THE EFFECTS OF THE MATHEMATICS CURRICULA UPON SUCH DEVELOPMENT WERE INVESTIGATED BY COMPARING GROUP MEAN TEST SCORES OF PROSPECTIVE ELEMENTARY AND…

The Perceptual Characteristics of Voice-Hallucinations in Deaf People: Insights into the Nature of Subvocal Thought and Sensory Feedback Loops

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Joanna R.

2006-01-01

The study of voice-hallucinations in deaf individuals, who exploit the visuomotor rather than auditory modality for communication, provides rare insight into the relationship between sensory experience and how “voices” are perceived. Relatively little is known about the perceptual characteristics of voice-hallucinations in congenitally deaf people who use lip-reading or sign language as their preferred means of communication. The existing literature on hallucinations in deaf people is reviewed, alongside consideration of how such phenomena may fit into explanatory subvocal articulation hypotheses proposed for auditory verbal hallucinations in hearing people. It is suggested that a failure in subvocal articulation processes may account for voice-hallucinations in both hearing and deaf people but that the distinct way in which hallucinations are experienced may be due to differences in a sensory feedback component, which is influenced by both auditory deprivation and language modality. This article highlights how the study of deaf people may inform wider understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations and subvocal processes generally. PMID:16510696

Associations of hallucination proneness with free-recall intrusions and response bias in a nonclinical sample.

PubMed

Brébion, Gildas; Larøi, Frank; Van der Linden, Martial

2010-10-01

Hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia have been associated with a liberal response bias in signal detection and recognition tasks and with various types of source-memory error. We investigated the associations of hallucination proneness with free-recall intrusions and false recognitions of words in a nonclinical sample. A total of 81 healthy individuals were administered a verbal memory task involving free recall and recognition of one nonorganizable and one semantically organizable list of words. Hallucination proneness was assessed by means of a self-rating scale. Global hallucination proneness was associated with free-recall intrusions in the nonorganizable list and with a response bias reflecting tendency to make false recognitions of nontarget words in both types of list. The verbal hallucination score was associated with more intrusions and with a reduced tendency to make false recognitions of words. The associations between global hallucination proneness and two types of verbal memory error in a nonclinical sample corroborate those observed in patients with schizophrenia and suggest that common cognitive mechanisms underlie hallucinations in psychiatric and nonclinical individuals.

Poor supplementary motor area activation differentiates auditory verbal hallucination from imagining the hallucination☆

PubMed Central

Raij, Tuukka T.; Riekki, Tapani J.J.

2012-01-01

Neuronal underpinnings of auditory verbal hallucination remain poorly understood. One suggested mechanism is brain activation that is similar to verbal imagery but occurs without the proper activation of the neuronal systems that are required to tag the origins of verbal imagery in one's mind. Such neuronal systems involve the supplementary motor area. The supplementary motor area has been associated with awareness of intention to make a hand movement, but whether this region is related to the sense of ownership of one's verbal thought remains poorly known. We hypothesized that the supplementary motor area is related to the distinction between one's own mental processing (auditory verbal imagery) and similar processing that is attributed to non-self author (auditory verbal hallucination). To test this hypothesis, we asked patients to signal the onset and offset of their auditory verbal hallucinations during functional magnetic resonance imaging. During non-hallucination periods, we asked the same patients to imagine the hallucination they had previously experienced. In addition, healthy control subjects signaled the onset and offset of self-paced imagery of similar voices. Both hallucinations and the imagery of hallucinations were associated with similar activation strengths of the fronto-temporal language-related circuitries, but the supplementary motor area was activated more strongly during the imagery than during hallucination. These findings suggest that auditory verbal hallucination resembles verbal imagery in language processing, but without the involvement of the supplementary motor area, which may subserve the sense of ownership of one's own verbal imagery. PMID:24179739

Perceptions of Elementary School Students: Experiences and Dreams about the Life Studies Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baysal, Z. Nurdan; Tezcan, Özlem Apak; Araç, Kamil Ersin

2018-01-01

This study seeks to identify elementary school students' views and perceptions of the Life Studies course through verbal and visual instruments. It employs a descriptive phenomenological research design. The study surveyed second- and third-grade students attending one private elementary school and two state elementary schools. The data was…

Training switching focus with a mobile-application by a patient suffering from AVH, a case report.

PubMed

Visser, Lucia; Sinkeviciute, Igne; Sommer, Iris E; Bless, Josef J

2018-02-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations complicate many psychiatric disorders. Antipsychotic medication is effective in the majority, but a significant minority experiences high burden from resistant hallucinations. Here, we aim to improve executive control, in an attempt to decrease burden from hallucinations. We describe the use of a cognitive trainings app by a young woman with highly resistant hallucinations. With modest training, a significant decrease in the duration of hallucinations was reached. Possibilities of this training technique are discussed. © 2018 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Art. Elementary Curriculum Guide 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton.

The elementary art program level 1 (grades 1 and 2), level 2 (grades 3 and 4), and level 3 (grades 5 and 6) is a unified, sequential course which focuses on 4 major concepts of visual learning. The concepts are: reflection--the response to visual forms in nature, designed objects and artworks; depiction--the development of imagery based on…

Making a Case for Using Visual Inquiry Discussion in Preparing Elementary Social Studies Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Cathy M.

2013-01-01

This dissertation research examines a teacher educator's instructional practices and preservice teachers' learning in two elementary social studies methods courses. As self-study, it focuses on learning to teach preservice teachers how to select and use visual images to teacher history and social studies. The research uses the Grossman Framework…

Psychosis in patients with narcolepsy as an adverse effect of sodium oxybate.

PubMed

Sarkanen, Tomi; Niemelä, Valter; Landtblom, Anne-Marie; Partinen, Markku

2014-01-01

Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are characteristic symptoms of narcolepsy, as are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and sleep paralysis. Narcolepsy patients may also experience daytime hallucinations unrelated to sleep-wake transitions. The effect of medication on hallucinations is of interest since treatment of narcolepsy may provoke psychotic symptoms. We aim to analyze the relation between sodium oxybate (SXB) treatment and psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy patients. Furthermore, we analyze the characteristics of hallucinations to determine their nature as mainly psychotic or hypnagogic and raise a discussion about whether SXB causes psychosis or if psychosis occurs as an endogenous complication in narcolepsy. We present altogether four patients with narcolepsy who experienced psychotic symptoms during treatment with SXB. In addition, we searched the literature for descriptions of hallucinations in narcolepsy and similarities and differences with psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. Three out of four patients had hallucinations typical for psychosis and one had symptoms that resembled aggravated hypnagogic hallucinations. Two patients also had delusional symptoms primarily associated with mental disorders. Tapering down SXB was tried and helped in two out of four cases. Adding antipsychotic treatment (risperidone) alleviated psychotic symptoms in two cases. Psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy may appear during SXB treatment. Hallucinations resemble those seen in schizophrenia; however, the insight that symptoms are delusional is usually preserved. In case of SXB-induced psychotic symptoms or hallucinations, reducing SXB dose or adding antipsychotic medication can be tried.

Lateralising value of experiential hallucinations in temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Heydrich, Lukas; Marillier, Guillaume; Evans, Nathan; Blanke, Olaf; Seeck, Margitta

2015-11-01

Ever since John Hughlings Jackson first described the so-called 'dreamy state' during temporal lobe epilepsy, that is, the sense of an abnormal familiarity (déjà vu) or vivid memory-like hallucinations from the past (experiential hallucinations), these phenomena have been studied and repeatedly linked to mesial temporal lobe structures. However, little is known about the lateralising value of either déjà vu or experiential hallucinations. We analysed a sample of 28 patients with intractable focal epilepsy suffering from either déjà vu or experiential hallucinations. All the patients underwent thorough presurgical examination, including MRI, positron emission tomography, single-photon emission CT, EEG and neuropsychological examination. While déjà vu was due to right or left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, experiential hallucinations were strongly lateralised to the left mesial temporal lobe. Moreover, there was a significant effect for interictal language deficits being more frequent in patients suffering from experiential hallucinations. These results suggest a lateralising value for experiential hallucinations to the left temporal lobe. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Hallucinations, loneliness, and social isolation in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

El Haj, Mohamad; Jardri, Renaud; Larøi, Frank; Antoine, Pascal

2016-01-01

Cognitive and functional compromise, as frequently observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD), hinders communication and social interactions. One consequence of this hindrance may be a feeling of loneliness. Moreover, emptiness and boredom, as observed in social isolation and loneliness, may thus be compensated for by creating imagined stimuli. Conditions of loneliness may be viewed as potentially generating hallucinatory experiences. To assess this assumption, the present study explored the relationship between social isolation, loneliness, and hallucinations in a sample of 22 mild AD participants and 24 elderly, healthy controls. Participants were assessed using the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and a scale exploring contact with others and social participation. More hallucinatory experiences, social isolation, and loneliness were found in the AD group than in the healthy control group. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between hallucinations and loneliness and between hallucinations and social isolation in both groups. Finally, hallucinations were predicted by social isolation. Hallucinations may constitute a compensatory mechanism that aims to fulfil communication needs in lonely, elderly participants. Hallucinations may also be regarded as experiences that allow certain participants to escape the cycle of boredom, emptiness, and affective deprivation caused by social isolation.

Mathematical neuroscience: from neurons to circuits to systems.

PubMed

Gutkin, Boris; Pinto, David; Ermentrout, Bard

2003-01-01

Applications of mathematics and computational techniques to our understanding of neuronal systems are provided. Reduction of membrane models to simplified canonical models demonstrates how neuronal spike-time statistics follow from simple properties of neurons. Averaging over space allows one to derive a simple model for the whisker barrel circuit and use this to explain and suggest several experiments. Spatio-temporal pattern formation methods are applied to explain the patterns seen in the early stages of drug-induced visual hallucinations.

Hallucinations in Healthy Older Adults: An Overview of the Literature and Perspectives for Future Research

PubMed Central

Badcock, Johanna C.; Dehon, Hedwige; Larøi, Frank

2017-01-01

KEY POINTS ➢ Studies suggest a substantial minority of healthy older adults have hallucinatory experiences, in line with existing evidence on hallucinations in other age groups, though it is still unclear if hallucination prevalence increases or declines with age in older cohorts.➢ Stigma attached to both hallucinations and ageing leads to considerable under-reporting of these experiences in healthy older adults and may negatively bias how professionals, family members, and the public respond.➢ Why and when hallucinations in healthy older adults remit, persist, or progress to other clinical disorders remains poorly understood.➢ Current evidence points to a range of factors associated with hallucinations in older adults including decline in sensory or cognitive functioning, poor sleep, and psychosocial stressors (e.g., social isolation, loneliness, and bereavement), highlighting the need for accurate assessment and tailored interventions. Hallucinations, though common in youth and younger adults, are not the preserve of these age groups. Accumulating evidence shows that hallucinatory experiences are also present at surprisingly high rates in healthy older adults in the general community. Furthermore, stigma and misunderstanding of hallucinations, together with ageism, may lead to under-reporting of these experiences by older adults, and misdiagnosis or mismanagement by health and mental health practitioners. Consequently, improved public and professional knowledge is needed about the nature and significance of hallucinations with advancing age. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview, and critical analysis, of research on the prevalence, psychosocial, and neurobiological factors associated with hallucinations in people aged 60 years and over. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review of its kind in the literature. The evidence supports a dynamic conceptualization of hallucinations, in which the emergence of hallucinations is viewed as a balance between the sensory, cognitive, or social impairments accompanying advancing age and the degree to which compensatory processes elicited by these impairments are successful. We briefly summarize the implications of the literature for aged care services and interventions, and stress that far more studies are needed in this important field of research. PMID:28736541

Hallucinations in Healthy Older Adults: An Overview of the Literature and Perspectives for Future Research.

PubMed

Badcock, Johanna C; Dehon, Hedwige; Larøi, Frank

2017-01-01

KEY POINTS ➢ Studies suggest a substantial minority of healthy older adults have hallucinatory experiences, in line with existing evidence on hallucinations in other age groups, though it is still unclear if hallucination prevalence increases or declines with age in older cohorts.➢ Stigma attached to both hallucinations and ageing leads to considerable under-reporting of these experiences in healthy older adults and may negatively bias how professionals, family members, and the public respond.➢ Why and when hallucinations in healthy older adults remit, persist, or progress to other clinical disorders remains poorly understood.➢ Current evidence points to a range of factors associated with hallucinations in older adults including decline in sensory or cognitive functioning, poor sleep, and psychosocial stressors (e.g., social isolation, loneliness, and bereavement), highlighting the need for accurate assessment and tailored interventions. Hallucinations, though common in youth and younger adults, are not the preserve of these age groups. Accumulating evidence shows that hallucinatory experiences are also present at surprisingly high rates in healthy older adults in the general community. Furthermore, stigma and misunderstanding of hallucinations, together with ageism, may lead to under-reporting of these experiences by older adults, and misdiagnosis or mismanagement by health and mental health practitioners. Consequently, improved public and professional knowledge is needed about the nature and significance of hallucinations with advancing age. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview, and critical analysis, of research on the prevalence, psychosocial, and neurobiological factors associated with hallucinations in people aged 60 years and over. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review of its kind in the literature. The evidence supports a dynamic conceptualization of hallucinations, in which the emergence of hallucinations is viewed as a balance between the sensory, cognitive, or social impairments accompanying advancing age and the degree to which compensatory processes elicited by these impairments are successful. We briefly summarize the implications of the literature for aged care services and interventions, and stress that far more studies are needed in this important field of research.

Musical hallucinations: review of treatment effects

PubMed Central

Coebergh, Jan A. F.; Lauw, R. F.; Bots, R.; Sommer, I. E. C.; Blom, J. D.

2015-01-01

Background: Despite an increased scientific interest in musical hallucinations over the past 25 years, treatment protocols are still lacking. This may well be due to the fact that musical hallucinations have multiple causes, and that published cases are relatively rare. Objective: To review the effects of published treatment methods for musical hallucinations. Methods: A literature search yielded 175 articles discussing a total number of 516 cases, of which 147 articles discussed treatment in 276 individuals. We analyzed the treatment results in relation to the etiological factor considered responsible for the mediation of the musical hallucinations, i.e., idiopathic/hypoacusis, psychiatric disorder, brain lesion, and other pathology, epilepsy or intoxication/pharmacology. Results: Musical hallucinations can disappear without intervention. When hallucinations are bearable, patients can be reassured without any other treatment. However, in other patients musical hallucinations are so disturbing that treatment is indicated. Distinct etiological groups appear to respond differently to treatment. In the hypoacusis group, treating the hearing impairment can yield significant improvement and coping strategies (e.g., more acoustic stimulation) are frequently helpful. Pharmacological treatment methods can also be successful, with antidepressants being possibly more helpful than antiepileptics (which are still better than antipsychotics). The limited use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors has looked promising. Musical hallucinations occurring as part of a psychiatric disorder tend to respond well to psychopharmacological treatments targeting the underlying disorder. Musical hallucinations experienced in the context of brain injuries and epilepsy tend to respond well to antiepileptics, but their natural course is often benign, irrespective of any pharmacological treatment. When intoxication/pharmacology is the main etiological factor, it is important to stop or switch the causative substance or medication. Conclusion: Treatments for musical hallucinations tend to yield favorable results when they target the main etiological factor of these phenomena. There is a need to establish the natural course of musical hallucinations, their response to non-pharmacological treatments, and their effects on the patient's quality of life. There is also a need to standardize the assessment of treatment responses, and document long-term follow up. PMID:26136708

Prevalence of psychotic symptoms among older adults in an Asian population.

PubMed

Subramaniam, Mythily; Abdin, Edimansyah; Vaingankar, Janhavi; Picco, Louisa; Shahwan, Shazana; Jeyagurunathan, Anitha; Zhang, Yunjue; Verma, Swapna; Chong, Siow Ann

2016-07-01

Psychotic symptoms are common among older adults and are seen in a wide range of conditions. Most studies examining the prevalence and correlates of psychotic symptoms among older adults have been conducted in Western populations. To address this gap the current study was undertaken to establish the prevalence and correlates of psychotic symptoms and paranoid ideation within a community sample of older adults without dementia in an Asian population. The Well-being of the Singapore Elderly (WiSE) study was a comprehensive single phase, cross-sectional survey. All respondents were assessed using the Geriatric Mental State examination (GMS). Specific questions of the GMS were then used to establish the prevalence of hallucinations and persecutory delusions. A total of 2,565 respondents completed the study giving a response rate of 65.6%. The prevalence of any psychotic symptoms in this population of older adults was 5.2%. The odds of hallucinations and any psychotic symptoms were significantly higher among those of Malay ethnicity, and those who had no formal education. Older adults aged 75-84 years were significantly associated with lower odds of having hallucinations (vs. older adult aged 60-74 years), while homemaker status was significantly associated with lower odds of having any psychotic symptoms. The prevalence of psychotic symptoms among older Asian adults without dementia was higher than that reported from Western countries. Psychotic symptoms were associated with Malay ethnicity, poor cognitive performance and fewer years of schooling, visual and hearing impairment as well as depression and irritability.

Referential delusions of communication and reality discrimination deficits in psychosis.

PubMed

Bucci, Sandra; Startup, Mike; Wynn, Paula; Heathcote, Andrew; Baker, Amanda; Lewin, Terry J

2008-09-01

There appear to be two kinds of delusion of reference, which vary independently: delusions of observation and delusions of communication. It has been suggested that delusions of communication might derive from an impairment in reality discrimination, though the impairment would be centred on non-verbal channels in delusions of communication as opposed to verbal channels in auditory hallucinations. Patients (N=64) with acute psychotic symptoms were recruited according to a 2 x 2 design: presence versus absence of delusions of communication crossed with presence versus absence of auditory hallucinations. They were presented with 100 brief video clips in which an actor either made a well-known gesture or an incidental movement, with the clips being obscured by visual noise. For each clip, the patients indicated how confident they were that a gesture was portrayed. According to a signal detection analysis, all groups showed adequate sensitivity and the groups did not differ in sensitivity, but patients with delusions of communication showed a bias to report gestures which was not shown by patients with hallucinations. A control group of healthy volunteers (N=57) showed significantly greater sensitivity than the patients and a more conservative bias than patients with delusions of communication. A bias to report gestures is not part of a general tendency to externalize one's own thoughts but may be the result of a reality discrimination deficit that is specific to delusions of communication. A possible theoretical explanation for such a deficit is discussed.

Exploratory study of once-daily transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Fröhlich, F; Burrello, T N; Mellin, J M; Cordle, A L; Lustenberger, C M; Gilmore, J H; Jarskog, L F

2016-03-01

Auditory hallucinations are resistant to pharmacotherapy in about 25% of adults with schizophrenia. Treatment with noninvasive brain stimulation would provide a welcomed additional tool for the clinical management of auditory hallucinations. A recent study found a significant reduction in auditory hallucinations in people with schizophrenia after five days of twice-daily transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) that simultaneously targeted left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left temporo-parietal cortex. We hypothesized that once-daily tDCS with stimulation electrodes over left frontal and temporo-parietal areas reduces auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. We performed a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study that evaluated five days of daily tDCS of the same cortical targets in 26 outpatients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder with auditory hallucinations. We found a significant reduction in auditory hallucinations measured by the Auditory Hallucination Rating Scale (F2,50=12.22, P<0.0001) that was not specific to the treatment group (F2,48=0.43, P=0.65). No significant change of overall schizophrenia symptom severity measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was observed. The lack of efficacy of tDCS for treatment of auditory hallucinations and the pronounced response in the sham-treated group in this study contrasts with the previous finding and demonstrates the need for further optimization and evaluation of noninvasive brain stimulation strategies. In particular, higher cumulative doses and higher treatment frequencies of tDCS together with strategies to reduce placebo responses should be investigated. Additionally, consideration of more targeted stimulation to engage specific deficits in temporal organization of brain activity in patients with auditory hallucinations may be warranted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Visual Approach and Design: The Appropriate Characteristics of Instructional Photos as a Tool to Support Elementary Setting in Kuwait

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buhamad, Ali

2016-01-01

This study provided a guide for appropriate characteristics of Instructional Photo to be used by teachers, trainers, coaches, instructors, and anyone else who desires to deliver knowledge and present content with visual meaning to elementary students in the state of Kuwait as a teaching style that supports teachers, facilitates clarification, and…

The Effects of Instruction with Visual Materials on the Development of Preservice Elementary Teachers' Knowledge and Attitude towards Global Warming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bozdogan, Aykut Emre

2011-01-01

This study aimed to identify the erroneous knowledge and misconceptions of preservice elementary teachers about global warming and examine the effects of instruction with visual materials on rectifying these misconceptions and fostering a positive attitude towards the issue of global warming. Having a quasi-experimental design, the study made use…

Visual Culture in the Elementary-School Classroom: Moving from Box-Store Commodities to Out-of-the-Box Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fattal, Laura Felleman

2017-01-01

The goal of the action research project on visual culture is to contribute to the dialogue on the exploratory ecology vs commodity culture of the elementary school classroom. Exploratory culture, unlike commodity culture, applauds open-ended thinking, inchoate imaginings, and critical thinking with its attachment to divergent paths to resolving…

Religion, Public Education, and Gender: A Feminist Critical Analysis of Policies Implemented for Objections to Music in Mixed-Gender Elementary Education Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thiele, Margaret

2012-01-01

In 2008 the Michigan State Board of Education adopted new certification standards for teacher preparation institutions training elementary classroom teachers. Eight content areas were identified, one of which was visual and performing arts. Standard 1.5, Visual and Performing Arts states candidates are to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in…

What Is the Link Between Hallucinations, Dreams, and Hypnagogic–Hypnopompic Experiences?

PubMed Central

Waters, Flavie; Blom, Jan Dirk; Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh; Cheyne, Allan J.; Alderson-Day, Ben; Woodruff, Peter; Collerton, Daniel

2016-01-01

By definition, hallucinations occur only in the full waking state. Yet similarities to sleep-related experiences such as hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, dreams and parasomnias, have been noted since antiquity. These observations have prompted researchers to suggest a common aetiology for these phenomena based on the neurobiology of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. With our recent understanding of hallucinations in different population groups and at the neurobiological, cognitive and interpersonal levels, it is now possible to draw comparisons between the 2 sets of experiences as never before. In the current article, we make detailed comparisons between sleep-related experiences and hallucinations in Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and eye disease, at the levels of phenomenology (content, sensory modalities involved, perceptual attributes) and of brain function (brain activations, resting-state networks, neurotransmitter action). Findings show that sleep-related experiences share considerable overlap with hallucinations at the level of subjective descriptions and underlying brain mechanisms. Key differences remain however: (1) Sleep-related perceptions are immersive and largely cut off from reality, whereas hallucinations are discrete and overlaid on veridical perceptions; and (2) Sleep-related perceptions involve only a subset of neural networks implicated in hallucinations, reflecting perceptual signals processed in a functionally and cognitively closed-loop circuit. In summary, both phenomena are non-veridical perceptions that share some phenomenological and neural similarities, but insufficient evidence exists to fully support the notion that the majority of hallucinations depend on REM processes or REM intrusions into waking consciousness. PMID:27358492

Persistent Interictal Musical Hallucination in a Patient With Mesial Temporal Sclerosis-Related Epilepsy: First Case Report and Etiopathological Hypothesis.

PubMed

Borelli, Paolo; Vedovello, Marcella; Braga, Massimiliano; Pederzoli, Massimo; Beretta, Sandro

2016-12-01

Musical hallucination is a disorder of complex sound processing of instrumental music, songs, choirs, chants, etc. The underlying pathologies include moderate to severe acquired hearing loss (the auditory equivalent of Charles Bonnet syndrome), psychiatric illnesses (depression, schizophrenia), drug intoxication (benzodiazepines, salicylate, pentoxifylline, propranolol), traumatic lesions along the acoustic pathways, and epilepsy. The hallucinations are most likely to begin late in life; 70% of patients are women. Musical hallucination has no known specific therapy. Treating the underlying cause is the most effective approach; neuroleptic and antidepressant medications have only rarely succeeded.Musical hallucination in epilepsy typically presents as simple partial seizures originating in the lateral temporal cortex. To our knowledge, no formal report of musical hallucination in the interictal state has been published before. In contrast, other interictal psychotic features are a relatively common complication, especially in patients with long-standing drug-resistant epilepsy.We describe a 62-year-old woman with a long history of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy whose musical hallucination was solely interictal. We speculate on the possible link between temporal epilepsy and her hallucination. We hypothesize that, as a result of her epileptic activity-induced damage, an imbalance developed between the excitatory and inhibitory projections connecting the mesial temporal cortex to the other auditory structures. These structures may have generated hyperactivity in the lateral temporal cortex through a "release" mechanism that eventually resulted in musical hallucination.

Psychosis in Patients with Narcolepsy as an Adverse Effect of Sodium Oxybate

PubMed Central

Sarkanen, Tomi; Niemelä, Valter; Landtblom, Anne-Marie; Partinen, Markku

2014-01-01

Aim: Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are characteristic symptoms of narcolepsy, as are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, and sleep paralysis. Narcolepsy patients may also experience daytime hallucinations unrelated to sleep–wake transitions. The effect of medication on hallucinations is of interest since treatment of narcolepsy may provoke psychotic symptoms. We aim to analyze the relation between sodium oxybate (SXB) treatment and psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy patients. Furthermore, we analyze the characteristics of hallucinations to determine their nature as mainly psychotic or hypnagogic and raise a discussion about whether SXB causes psychosis or if psychosis occurs as an endogenous complication in narcolepsy. Method: We present altogether four patients with narcolepsy who experienced psychotic symptoms during treatment with SXB. In addition, we searched the literature for descriptions of hallucinations in narcolepsy and similarities and differences with psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. Results: Three out of four patients had hallucinations typical for psychosis and one had symptoms that resembled aggravated hypnagogic hallucinations. Two patients also had delusional symptoms primarily associated with mental disorders. Tapering down SXB was tried and helped in two out of four cases. Adding antipsychotic treatment (risperidone) alleviated psychotic symptoms in two cases. Conclusion: Psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy may appear during SXB treatment. Hallucinations resemble those seen in schizophrenia; however, the insight that symptoms are delusional is usually preserved. In case of SXB-induced psychotic symptoms or hallucinations, reducing SXB dose or adding antipsychotic medication can be tried. PMID:25191304

Recovering from Hallucinations: A Qualitative Study of Coping with Voices Hearing of People with Schizophrenia in Hong Kong

PubMed Central

Ng, Petrus; Chun, Ricky W. K.; Tsun, Angela

2012-01-01

Auditory hallucination is a positive symptom of schizophrenia and has significant impacts on the lives of individuals. People with auditory hallucination require considerable assistance from mental health professionals. Apart from medications, they may apply different lay methods to cope with their voice hearing. Results from qualitative interviews showed that people with schizophrenia in the Chinese sociocultural context of Hong Kong were coping with auditory hallucination in different ways, including (a) changing social contacts, (b) manipulating the voices, and (c) changing perception and meaning towards the voices. Implications for recovery from psychiatric illness of individuals with auditory hallucinations are discussed. PMID:23304082

Face Hallucination with Linear Regression Model in Semi-Orthogonal Multilinear PCA Method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asavaskulkiet, Krissada

2018-04-01

In this paper, we propose a new face hallucination technique, face images reconstruction in HSV color space with a semi-orthogonal multilinear principal component analysis method. This novel hallucination technique can perform directly from tensors via tensor-to-vector projection by imposing the orthogonality constraint in only one mode. In our experiments, we use facial images from FERET database to test our hallucination approach which is demonstrated by extensive experiments with high-quality hallucinated color faces. The experimental results assure clearly demonstrated that we can generate photorealistic color face images by using the SO-MPCA subspace with a linear regression model.

Simulation in Nursing Education: iPod As a Teaching Tool for Undergraduate Nurses.

PubMed

Evans, Jennifer; Webster, Sue; Gallagher, Susan; Brown, Peter; Sinclair, John

2015-07-01

Most people with psychosis and schizophrenia experience auditory hallucinations, particularly the hearing of voices. A common cause of frustration and alienation for consumers is the lack of understanding by therapists, family members and caregivers, who find it difficult to relate to the consumers' experiences. The purpose of this study is to examine and evaluate whether students' participation in a simulated auditory hallucination will increase their understanding and knowledge about psychosis and auditory hallucinations. The design method consisted of a lecture on psychosis and schizophrenia disorders, followed by a simulation of auditory hallucinations using iPods. Students' knowledge and perceptions of psychosis and hallucinations was assessed using quasi-experimental pre-post matched-design questionnaires. The questionnaire was divided into two parts, the first comprised closed questions to assess students' knowledge, and the second part consisted of open-ended questions to collect information about students' perceptions of auditory hallucinations. The results confirmed that students' knowledge of psychosis and hallucination increased following the teaching session and simulation is a useful tool to prepare students for clinical placements in mental health practice.

Clinical and neurocognitive aspects of hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

El Haj, Mohamad; Roche, Jean; Jardri, Renaud; Kapogiannis, Dimitrios; Gallouj, Karim; Antoine, Pascal

2017-12-01

Due to their prevalence, hallucinations are considered as one of the most frequent psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD). These psychotic manifestations reduce patients' well-being, increase the burden of caregivers, contribute to early institutionalization, and are related with the course of cognitive decline in AD. Considering their consequences, we provide a comprehensive account of the current state of knowledge about the prevalence and characteristics of hallucinations in AD. We propose a comprehensive and testable theoretical model about hallucinations in AD: the ALZHA (ALZheimer and HAllucinations) model. In this model, neurological, genetic, cognitive, affective, and iatrogenic factors associated with hallucinations in AD are highlighted. According to the ALZHA model, hallucinations in AD first involve trait markers (i.e., cognitive deficits, neurological deficits, genetic predisposition and/or sensory deficits) to which state markers that may trigger these experiences are added (e.g., psychological distress and/or iatrogenic factors). Finally, we provide recommendations for assessment and management of these psychotic manifestations in AD, with the aim to benefit patients, caregivers, and health professionals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Criminal Lawyer Looks at Alcoholism.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-05-23

medical emergency. AMR, supra note 13 at 60. "’"’ 91 91-Alcoholic Hallucinosis - Hallucinations can be visual or auditory . Patient stays aware of...finally went for my final hearing , court trial, went through a series of preliminary things - and all this stuff, so when the actual time for sentencing...34 But, you rarely hear , "Isn’t it too bad that John suffers from alchol " Mien his aqateesfinally have enough of his behavior, they might call John a "G

Plasma and urine concentrations of atropine after the ingestion of cooked deadly nightshade berries.

PubMed

Schneider, F; Lutun, P; Kintz, P; Astruc, D; Flesch, F; Tempé, J D

1996-01-01

Adult intoxications due to ingestion of deadly nightshade berries is uncommon. Collective intoxication of eight persons occurred after accidental ingestion of ripened Atropa belladonna berries. Three of the four adults displayed delirious states with visual hallucinations; one patient fell into a coma and required mechanical ventilation. Four children and one adult exhibited mild peripheral anticholinergic symptoms. Kinetic data were obtained on the three hospitalized adults. The optimal intensive care for such patients is discussed.

Another Function for Language and its Theoretical Consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barahona da Fonseca, Isabel; Barahona da Fonseca, José; Simões da Fonseca, José

2006-06-01

Our proposal is that when they exercise the faculty of "parole" subjects use strategies characterized by an internal reconstruction of objects which acquire a status similar to the imperative believe in the representation of reality as it occurs in visual or auditory perception. The referent of verbal expressions acquires a greater importance for the subject who uses it according more to rhetoric principles than through logical critical analysis. Consequences concerning psychopathology, namely the phenomena of hallucination are explained on that basis.

Auditory hallucinations: nomenclature and classification.

PubMed

Blom, Jan Dirk; Sommer, Iris E C

2010-03-01

The literature on the possible neurobiologic correlates of auditory hallucinations is expanding rapidly. For an adequate understanding and linking of this emerging knowledge, a clear and uniform nomenclature is a prerequisite. The primary purpose of the present article is to provide an overview of the nomenclature and classification of auditory hallucinations. Relevant data were obtained from books, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. The results are presented in the form of several classificatory arrangements of auditory hallucinations, governed by the principles of content, perceived source, perceived vivacity, relation to the sleep-wake cycle, and association with suspected neurobiologic correlates. This overview underscores the necessity to reappraise the concepts of auditory hallucinations developed during the era of classic psychiatry, to incorporate them into our current nomenclature and classification of auditory hallucinations, and to test them empirically with the aid of the structural and functional imaging techniques currently available.

Reality of auditory verbal hallucinations.

PubMed

Raij, Tuukka T; Valkonen-Korhonen, Minna; Holi, Matti; Therman, Sebastian; Lehtonen, Johannes; Hari, Riitta

2009-11-01

Distortion of the sense of reality, actualized in delusions and hallucinations, is the key feature of psychosis but the underlying neuronal correlates remain largely unknown. We studied 11 highly functioning subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder while they rated the reality of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The subjective reality of AVH correlated strongly and specifically with the hallucination-related activation strength of the inferior frontal gyri (IFG), including the Broca's language region. Furthermore, how real the hallucination that subjects experienced was depended on the hallucination-related coupling between the IFG, the ventral striatum, the auditory cortex, the right posterior temporal lobe, and the cingulate cortex. Our findings suggest that the subjective reality of AVH is related to motor mechanisms of speech comprehension, with contributions from sensory and salience-detection-related brain regions as well as circuitries related to self-monitoring and the experience of agency.

Reality of auditory verbal hallucinations

PubMed Central

Valkonen-Korhonen, Minna; Holi, Matti; Therman, Sebastian; Lehtonen, Johannes; Hari, Riitta

2009-01-01

Distortion of the sense of reality, actualized in delusions and hallucinations, is the key feature of psychosis but the underlying neuronal correlates remain largely unknown. We studied 11 highly functioning subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder while they rated the reality of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The subjective reality of AVH correlated strongly and specifically with the hallucination-related activation strength of the inferior frontal gyri (IFG), including the Broca's language region. Furthermore, how real the hallucination that subjects experienced was depended on the hallucination-related coupling between the IFG, the ventral striatum, the auditory cortex, the right posterior temporal lobe, and the cingulate cortex. Our findings suggest that the subjective reality of AVH is related to motor mechanisms of speech comprehension, with contributions from sensory and salience-detection-related brain regions as well as circuitries related to self-monitoring and the experience of agency. PMID:19620178

Misleading hallucinations in unrecognized narcolepsy.

PubMed

Szucs, A; Janszky, J; Holló, A; Migléczi, G; Halász, P

2003-10-01

To describe psychosis-like hallucinatory states in unrecognized narcolepsy. Two patients with hypnagogic/hypnapompic hallucinations are presented. Both patients had realistic and complex - multi-modal and scenic-daytime sexual hallucinations leading, in the first case, to a legal procedure because of false accusation, and in the second, to serious workplace conflicts. Both patients were convinced of the reality of their hallucinatory experiences but later both were able to recognize their hallucinatory character. Clinical data, a multiple sleep latency test, polysomnography, and HLA typing revealed that both patients suffered from narcolepsy. We suggest that in unrecognized narcolepsy with daytime hypnagogic/hypnapompic hallucinations the diagnostic procedure may mistakenly incline towards delusional psychoses. Daytime realistic hypnagogic/hypnapompic hallucinations may also have forensic consequences and mislead legal evaluation. Useful clinical features in differentiating narcolepsy from psychoses are: the presence of other narcoleptic symptoms, features of hallucinations, and response to adequate medication.

Visual Hallucinations in Eye Disease and Lewy Body Disease.

PubMed

Urwyler, Prabitha; Nef, Tobias; Müri, René; Archibald, Neil; Makin, Selina Margaret; Collerton, Daniel; Taylor, John-Paul; Burn, David; McKeith, Ian; Mosimann, Urs Peter

2016-05-01

Visual hallucinations (VH) most commonly occur in eye disease (ED), Parkinson disease (PD), and Lewy body dementia (LBD). The phenomenology of VH is likely to carry important information about the brain areas within the visual system generating them. Data from five controlled cross-sectional VH studies (164 controls, 135 ED, 156 PD, 79 [PDD 48 + DLB 31] LBD) were combined and analyzed. The prevalence, phenomenology, frequency, duration, and contents of VH were compared across diseases and sex. Simple VH were most common in ED patients (ED 65% versus LBD 22% versus PD 9%, χ(2) = 31.43, df = 2, p < 0.001), whereas complex VH were more common in LBD (LBD 76% versus ED 38%, versus PD 28%, χ(2) = 96.80, df = 2, p < 0.001). The phenomenology of complex VH was different across diseases and sex. ED patients reported more "flowers" (ED 21% versus LBD 6% versus PD 0%, χ(2) = 10.04, df = 2, p = 0.005) and "body parts" (ED 40% versus LBD 17% versus PD 13%, χ(2) = 11.14, df = 2, p = 0.004); in contrast, LBD patients reported "people" (LBD 85% versus ED 67% versus PD 63%, χ(2) = 6.20, df = 2, p = 0.045) and "animals/insects" (LBD 50% versus PD 42% versus ED 21%, χ(2) = 9.76, df = 2, p = 0.008). Men reported more "machines" (13% versus 2%, χ(2) = 6.94, df = 1, p = 0.008), whereas women reported more "family members/children" (48% versus 29%, χ(2) = 5.10, df = 1, p = 0.024). The phenomenology of VH is likely related to disease-specific dysfunctions within the visual system and to past, personal experiences. Copyright © 2016 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

It's Not a Math Lesson--We're Learning to Draw! Teachers' Use of Visual Representations in Instructing Word Problem Solving in Sixth Grade of Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boonen, Anton J. H.; Reed, Helen C.; Schoonenboom, Judith; Jolles, Jelle

2016-01-01

Non-routine word problem solving is an essential feature of the mathematical development of elementary school students worldwide. Many students experience difficulties in solving these problems due to erroneous problem comprehension. These difficulties could be alleviated by instructing students how to use visual representations that clarify the…

Development of a Top-View Numeric Coding Teaching-Learning Trajectory within an Elementary Grades 3-D Visualization Design Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sack, Jacqueline J.

2013-01-01

This article explicates the development of top-view numeric coding of 3-D cube structures within a design research project focused on 3-D visualization skills for elementary grades children. It describes children's conceptual development of 3-D cube structures using concrete models, conventional 2-D pictures and abstract top-view numeric…

Multidisciplinary assessment of patients with musical hallucinations, tinnitus and hearing loss.

PubMed

Rocha, Savya Cybelle Milhomem; Kii, Marcia Akemi; Pereira, Cristiana Borges; Borelli, Danilo Totarelli; Forlenza, Orestes; Sanchez, Tanit Ganz

2015-01-01

Although auditory hallucinations are considered a psychopathological phenomenon, musical hallucinations have been reported in individuals without psychosis but with auditory symptoms (tinnitus and/or hearing loss). Thus, a possible different cognitive functioning may be involved in musical hallucinations. The aim of the study was to characterize patients with tinnitus and musical hallucinations through a multidisciplinary assessment, allowing a better understanding of these concomitant phenomena. As this sample is rare to find, all consecutive patients with tinnitus, hearing loss and musical hallucinations were included over a 3-year period, excluding those unable to respond. All subjects underwent the following assessments: (1) otolaryngological and audiological assessment (physical examination and audiometry), (2) neurological assessment (cognition, electroencephalogram and imaging examination) and (3) psychiatric assessment (structured interview). A total of 16 patients were included (87.5% women; mean age 61.43 ± 15.99 years). The otolaryngological examination was normal in all cases, but audiometry revealed that the degree of hearing loss was severe to profound in 68.75% of participants. Neurological assessment showed electroencephalogram changes in only 17.6% of cases, while 25% presented with mild attention deficit and 43.75% had small foci of gliosis or ischemia on the imaging examination. Psychiatric assessment showed that 68.75% of cases had depression, 6.25% had anxiety disorder and 25% had no psychiatric conditions. Musical hallucinations were strongly associated with female elderly adults and with mood disorders. Thus, in contrast to common auditory hallucinations, patients with musical hallucinations associated with tinnitus and hearing loss should be offered a more multidisciplinary assessment. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Using Facebook to Reach People Who Experience Auditory Hallucinations

PubMed Central

Brian, Rachel Marie; Ben-Zeev, Dror

2016-01-01

Background Auditory hallucinations (eg, hearing voices) are relatively common and underreported false sensory experiences that may produce distress and impairment. A large proportion of those who experience auditory hallucinations go unidentified and untreated. Traditional engagement methods oftentimes fall short in reaching the diverse population of people who experience auditory hallucinations. Objective The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the viability of leveraging Web-based social media as a method of engaging people who experience auditory hallucinations and to evaluate their attitudes toward using social media platforms as a resource for Web-based support and technology-based treatment. Methods We used Facebook advertisements to recruit individuals who experience auditory hallucinations to complete an 18-item Web-based survey focused on issues related to auditory hallucinations and technology use in American adults. We systematically tested multiple elements of the advertisement and survey layout including image selection, survey pagination, question ordering, and advertising targeting strategy. Each element was evaluated sequentially and the most cost-effective strategy was implemented in the subsequent steps, eventually deriving an optimized approach. Three open-ended question responses were analyzed using conventional inductive content analysis. Coded responses were quantified into binary codes, and frequencies were then calculated. Results Recruitment netted N=264 total sample over a 6-week period. Ninety-seven participants fully completed all measures at a total cost of $8.14 per participant across testing phases. Systematic adjustments to advertisement design, survey layout, and targeting strategies improved data quality and cost efficiency. People were willing to provide information on what triggered their auditory hallucinations along with strategies they use to cope, as well as provide suggestions to others who experience auditory hallucinations. Women, people who use mobile phones, and those experiencing more distress, were reportedly more open to using Facebook as a support and/or therapeutic tool in the future. Conclusions Facebook advertisements can be used to recruit research participants who experience auditory hallucinations quickly and in a cost-effective manner. Most (58%) Web-based respondents are open to Facebook-based support and treatment and are willing to describe their subjective experiences with auditory hallucinations. PMID:27302017

Using Facebook to Reach People Who Experience Auditory Hallucinations.

PubMed

Crosier, Benjamin Sage; Brian, Rachel Marie; Ben-Zeev, Dror

2016-06-14

Auditory hallucinations (eg, hearing voices) are relatively common and underreported false sensory experiences that may produce distress and impairment. A large proportion of those who experience auditory hallucinations go unidentified and untreated. Traditional engagement methods oftentimes fall short in reaching the diverse population of people who experience auditory hallucinations. The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to examine the viability of leveraging Web-based social media as a method of engaging people who experience auditory hallucinations and to evaluate their attitudes toward using social media platforms as a resource for Web-based support and technology-based treatment. We used Facebook advertisements to recruit individuals who experience auditory hallucinations to complete an 18-item Web-based survey focused on issues related to auditory hallucinations and technology use in American adults. We systematically tested multiple elements of the advertisement and survey layout including image selection, survey pagination, question ordering, and advertising targeting strategy. Each element was evaluated sequentially and the most cost-effective strategy was implemented in the subsequent steps, eventually deriving an optimized approach. Three open-ended question responses were analyzed using conventional inductive content analysis. Coded responses were quantified into binary codes, and frequencies were then calculated. Recruitment netted N=264 total sample over a 6-week period. Ninety-seven participants fully completed all measures at a total cost of $8.14 per participant across testing phases. Systematic adjustments to advertisement design, survey layout, and targeting strategies improved data quality and cost efficiency. People were willing to provide information on what triggered their auditory hallucinations along with strategies they use to cope, as well as provide suggestions to others who experience auditory hallucinations. Women, people who use mobile phones, and those experiencing more distress, were reportedly more open to using Facebook as a support and/or therapeutic tool in the future. Facebook advertisements can be used to recruit research participants who experience auditory hallucinations quickly and in a cost-effective manner. Most (58%) Web-based respondents are open to Facebook-based support and treatment and are willing to describe their subjective experiences with auditory hallucinations.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for hallucination in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Yingli; Liang, Wei; Yang, Shichang; Dai, Ping; Shen, Lijuan; Wang, Changhong

2013-10-05

This study assessed the efficacy and tolerability of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment of auditory hallucination of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Online literature retrieval was conducted using PubMed, ISI Web of Science, EMBASE, Medline and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases from January 1985 to May 2012. Key words were "transcranial magnetic stimulation", "TMS", "repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation", and "hallucination". Selected studies were randomized controlled trials assessing therapeutic efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for hallucination in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Experimental intervention was low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in left temporoparietal cortex for treatment of auditory hallucination in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Control groups received sham stimulation. The primary outcome was total scores of Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale, Auditory Hallucination Subscale of Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale, Positive and Negative Symptom Scale-Auditory Hallucination item, and Hallucination Change Scale. Secondary outcomes included response rate, global mental state, adverse effects and cognitive function. Seventeen studies addressing repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment of schizophrenia spectrum disorders were screened, with controls receiving sham stimulation. All data were completely effective, involving 398 patients. Overall mean weighted effect size for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation versus sham stimulation was statistically significant (MD = -0.42, 95%CI: -0.64 to -0.20, P = 0.000 2). Patients receiving repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation responded more frequently than sham stimulation (OR = 2.94, 95%CI: 1.39 to 6.24, P = 0.005). No significant differences were found between active repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and sham stimulation for positive or negative symptoms. Compared with sham stimulation, active repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation had equivocal outcome in cognitive function and commonly caused headache and facial muscle twitching. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for auditory hallucination in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

The role of magical thinking in hallucinations. Comparisons of clinical and non-clinical groups.

PubMed

García-Montes, José M; Pérez-Álvarez, Marino; Odriozola-González, Paula; Vallina-Fernández, Oscar; Perona-Garcelán, Salvador

2014-11-01

Magical thinking consists of accepting the possibility that events that, according to the causal concepts of a culture, cannot have any causal relationship, but might somehow nevertheless have one. Magical thinking has been related to both obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of magical thinking in hallucinations of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Four groups were recruited for this purpose from a clinical population (hallucinating schizophrenic patients, patients diagnosed with psychoses who had never hallucinated, obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and a clinical control group) and a non-clinical control group, who were given the Magical Ideation Scale. The results show that magical ideation differentiates the group of schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations from the rest of the groups that participated in the design. Items related to "mind reading", to the presence of auditory illusions in response to sound stimuli, and to the sense of sometimes being accompanied by an evil presence are the most closely related to the presence of auditory hallucinations. Magical thinking, understood as beliefs in non-consensual modes of causation, is closely linked to auditory hallucinations in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy: phenomenology and a comparison with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Fortuyn, Hal A Droogleever; Lappenschaar, G A; Nienhuis, Fokko J; Furer, Joop W; Hodiamont, Paul P; Rijnders, Cees A; Lammers, Gert Jan; Renier, Willy O; Buitelaar, Jan K; Overeem, Sebastiaan

2009-01-01

Patients with narcolepsy often experience pervasive hypnagogic hallucinations, sometimes even leading to confusion with schizophrenia. We aimed to provide a detailed qualitative description of hypnagogic hallucinations and other "psychotic" symptoms in patients with narcolepsy and contrast these with schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. We also compared the prevalence of formal psychotic disorders between narcolepsy patients and controls. We used SCAN 2.1 interviews to compare psychotic symptoms between 60 patients with narcolepsy, 102 with schizophrenia and 120 matched population controls. In addition, qualitative data was collected to enable a detailed description of hypnagogic hallucinations in narcolepsy. There were clear differences in the pattern of hallucinatory experiences in narcolepsy vs. schizophrenia patients. Narcoleptics reported multisensory "holistic" hallucinations rather than the predominantly verbal-auditory sensory mode of schizophrenia patients. Psychotic symptoms such as delusions were not more frequent in narcolepsy compared to population controls. In addition, the prevalence of formal psychotic disorders was not increased in patients with narcolepsy. Almost half of narcoleptics reported moderate interference with functioning due to hypnagogic hallucinations, mostly due to related anxiety. Hypnagogic hallucinations in narcolepsy can be differentiated on a phenomenological basis from hallucinations in schizophrenia which is useful in differential diagnostic dilemmas.

Preclinical Polymodal Hallucinations for 13 Years before Dementia with Lewy Bodies

PubMed Central

Abbate, Carlo; Trimarchi, Pietro Davide; Inglese, Silvia; Viti, Niccolò; Cantatore, Alessandra; De Agostini, Lisa; Pirri, Federico; Marino, Lorenza; Bagarolo, Renzo

2014-01-01

Objective. We describe a case of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) that presented long-lasting preclinical complex polymodal hallucinations. Background. Few studies have deeply investigated the characteristics of hallucinations in DLB, especially in the preclinical phase. Moreover, the clinical phenotype of mild cognitive impairment-(MCI-) DLB is poorly understood. Methods. The patient was followed for 4 years and a selective phenomenological and cognitive study was performed at the predementia stage. Results. The phenomenological study showed the presence of hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations that allowed us to make a differential diagnosis between DLB and Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS). The neuropsychological evaluation showed a multiple domain without amnesia MCI subtype with prefrontal dysexecutive, visuoperceptual, and visuospatial impairments and simultanagnosia, which has not previously been reported in MCI-DLB. Conclusions. This study extends the prognostic value of hallucinations for DLB to the preclinical phases. It supports and refines the MCI-DLB concept and identifies simultanagnosia as a possible early cognitive marker. Finally, it confirms an association between hallucinations and visuoperceptual impairments at an intermediate stage of the disease course and strongly supports the hypothesis that hallucinations in the earliest stages of DLB may reflect a narcolepsy-like REM-sleep disorder. PMID:24868122

Useful field of view test performance throughout adulthood in subjects without ocular disorders.

PubMed

Woutersen, Karlijn; van den Berg, Albert V; Boonstra, F Nienke; Theelen, Thomas; Goossens, Jeroen

2018-01-01

Previous research has shown an age-related decline in Useful Field of View (UFOV) test performance, which measures the duration required to extract relevant information from a scene in three subtasks. However, these results are mostly based on data that may have been confounded by (age-related) ocular diseases. We examined UFOV performance in subjects aged 19.5 to 70.3 years to investigate how UFOV performance changes throughout adulthood. All subjects underwent a thorough ophthalmological examination to exclude ocular disorders. We also examined some elementary visual functions, i.e., near and far visual acuity, crowding and contrast sensitivity. We investigated whether these functions were related to age and whether they could explain a possible age-related decline in UFOV performance. The subjects (n = 41) performed very well on almost every measure and reached far better UFOV and visual acuity scores than those reported by other studies that relied on self-reported absence of ocular pathology. We did not find significant relationships between age and any of the elementary visual functions or the first two UFOV subtasks (R2UFOV1 = 0.03, p = 0.25; R2UFOV2 = 0.07, p = 0.10). However, we found an age-related decline in performance on the third UFOV subtask (R2UFOV3 = 0.36, p < 0.001), which was unrelated to performance on the elementary visual function tasks. Our results show that performance on the first two UFOV subtasks as well as central elementary visual functions may remain high in the absence of obvious ophthalmological pathology.

Story Bound, Map Around: Stories, Life, and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Ulyssa; Nolte-Yupari, Samantha

2015-01-01

In this article, the authors discuss mixed-media projects done with elementary students in a summer art camp and preservice elementary teachers taking Visual Arts in the Elementary Classroom, illustrating their consideration of how stories carry the curricular potential to bring students' out-of-school experiences into the classroom. In order…

Relations among hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences associated with sleep paralysis.

PubMed

Cheyne, J A; Newby-Clark, I R; Rueffer, S D

1999-12-01

The Waterloo Sleep Experiences Scale was developed to assess the prevalence of sleep paralysis and a variety of associated hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinoid experiences: sensed presence, felt pressure, floating sensations, auditory and visual hallucinations, and fear. Consistent with results of recent surveys, almost 30% of 870 university students reported at least one experience of sleep paralysis. Approximately three-quarters of those also reported at least one hallucinoid experience, and slightly more than 10% experienced three or more. Fear was positively associated with hallucinoid experiences, most clearly with sensed presence. Regression analyses lend support to the hypothesis that sensed presence and fear are primitive associates of sleep paralysis and contribute to the elaboration of further hallucinoid experiences, especially those involving visual experiences.

What Is the Link Between Hallucinations, Dreams, and Hypnagogic-Hypnopompic Experiences?

PubMed

Waters, Flavie; Blom, Jan Dirk; Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh; Cheyne, Allan J; Alderson-Day, Ben; Woodruff, Peter; Collerton, Daniel

2016-09-01

By definition, hallucinations occur only in the full waking state. Yet similarities to sleep-related experiences such as hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations, dreams and parasomnias, have been noted since antiquity. These observations have prompted researchers to suggest a common aetiology for these phenomena based on the neurobiology of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. With our recent understanding of hallucinations in different population groups and at the neurobiological, cognitive and interpersonal levels, it is now possible to draw comparisons between the 2 sets of experiences as never before. In the current article, we make detailed comparisons between sleep-related experiences and hallucinations in Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia and eye disease, at the levels of phenomenology (content, sensory modalities involved, perceptual attributes) and of brain function (brain activations, resting-state networks, neurotransmitter action). Findings show that sleep-related experiences share considerable overlap with hallucinations at the level of subjective descriptions and underlying brain mechanisms. Key differences remain however: (1) Sleep-related perceptions are immersive and largely cut off from reality, whereas hallucinations are discrete and overlaid on veridical perceptions; and (2) Sleep-related perceptions involve only a subset of neural networks implicated in hallucinations, reflecting perceptual signals processed in a functionally and cognitively closed-loop circuit. In summary, both phenomena are non-veridical perceptions that share some phenomenological and neural similarities, but insufficient evidence exists to fully support the notion that the majority of hallucinations depend on REM processes or REM intrusions into waking consciousness. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of auditory hallucinations: a preliminary open-label study

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Schizophrenia is a chronic and disabling disease that presents with delusions and hallucinations. Auditory hallucinations are usually expressed as voices speaking to or about the patient. Previous studies have examined the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the temporoparietal cortex on auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients. Our aim was to explore the potential effect of deep TMS, using the H coil over the same brain region on auditory hallucinations. Patients and methods Eight schizophrenic patients with refractory auditory hallucinations were recruited, mainly from Beer Ya'akov Mental Health Institution (Tel Aviv university, Israel) ambulatory clinics, as well as from other hospitals outpatient populations. Low-frequency deep TMS was applied for 10 min (600 pulses per session) to the left temporoparietal cortex for either 10 or 20 sessions. Deep TMS was applied using Brainsway's H1 coil apparatus. Patients were evaluated using the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale (AHRS) as well as the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms scores (SAPS), Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scale, and the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). Results This preliminary study demonstrated a significant improvement in AHRS score (an average reduction of 31.7% ± 32.2%) and to a lesser extent improvement in SAPS results (an average reduction of 16.5% ± 20.3%). Conclusions In this study, we have demonstrated the potential of deep TMS treatment over the temporoparietal cortex as an add-on treatment for chronic auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients. Larger samples in a double-blind sham-controlled design are now being preformed to evaluate the effectiveness of deep TMS treatment for auditory hallucinations. Trial registration This trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov (identifier: NCT00564096). PMID:21303566

Auditory hallucinations and the temporal cortical response to speech in schizophrenia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

PubMed

Woodruff, P W; Wright, I C; Bullmore, E T; Brammer, M; Howard, R J; Williams, S C; Shapleske, J; Rossell, S; David, A S; McGuire, P K; Murray, R M

1997-12-01

The authors explored whether abnormal functional lateralization of temporal cortical language areas in schizophrenia was associated with a predisposition to auditory hallucinations and whether the auditory hallucinatory state would reduce the temporal cortical response to external speech. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent signal induced by auditory perception of speech in three groups of male subjects: eight schizophrenic patients with a history of auditory hallucinations (trait-positive), none of whom was currently hallucinating; seven schizophrenic patients without such a history (trait-negative); and eight healthy volunteers. Seven schizophrenic patients were also examined while they were actually experiencing severe auditory verbal hallucinations and again after their hallucinations had diminished. Voxel-by-voxel comparison of the median power of subjects' responses to periodic external speech revealed that this measure was reduced in the left superior temporal gyrus but increased in the right middle temporal gyrus in the combined schizophrenic groups relative to the healthy comparison group. Comparison of the trait-positive and trait-negative patients revealed no clear difference in the power of temporal cortical activation. Comparison of patients when experiencing severe hallucinations and when hallucinations were mild revealed reduced responsivity of the temporal cortex, especially the right middle temporal gyrus, to external speech during the former state. These results suggest that schizophrenia is associated with a reduced left and increased right temporal cortical response to auditory perception of speech, with little distinction between patients who differ in their vulnerability to hallucinations. The auditory hallucinatory state is associated with reduced activity in temporal cortical regions that overlap with those that normally process external speech, possibly because of competition for common neurophysiological resources.

[Cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders in Parkinson's disease].

PubMed

Rodríguez-Constenla, I; Cabo-López, I; Bellas-Lamas, P; Cebrián, E

2010-02-08

In Parkinson's disease there are patients with isolated and multiple cognitive impairment, and their cognitive performance ranges from normal to an advanced degree of dementia. Most patients present an executive deficit, either in isolation or combined with other cognitive disorders, which is considered to be the most characteristic aspect of the disease, and 30-40% of those affected will end up with a clinically-defined dementia. The presence of a mild cognitive disorder in patients with Parkinson means that the risk of dementia appearing at some time during the development of the disease is high. The dementia associated with Parkinson's disease is specifically related with neuropsychiatric signs and symptoms, which may have three possible explanations: disorders affecting the mesolimbic pathways, diffuse limbic and cortical compromise, or associated Alzheimer-type phenomenology. Psychotic episodes tend to present more often in patients with dopaminergic treatment and the clinical spectrum of Parkinson-related psychosis covers visual illusions, visual-audio-olfactory hallucinations, delirium and severe paranoid hallucinatory psychosis. All the antiparkinsonian drugs can give rise to hallucinations and psychosis, but the dopamine agonists are the ones with the greatest capacity to do so. In managing these problems, it is crucial for prevention as well as diagnosis and treatment to be carried out as soon as they are detected. Doses of antiparkinsonian drugs must be reduced, although this is not usually enough, and so it will be necessary to associate atypical antipsychotics, which act mainly on 5-HT receptors and, in most cases, do not produce D2 blockage.

The role of serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in memory and cognition

PubMed Central

Zhang, Gongliang; Stackman, Robert W.

2015-01-01

Serotonin 5-HT2A receptors (5-HT2ARs) are widely distributed in the central nervous system, especially in brain region essential for learning and cognition. In addition to endogenous 5-HT, several hallucinogens, antipsychotics, and antidepressants function by targeting 5-HT2ARs. Preclinical studies show that 5-HT2AR antagonists have antipsychotic and antidepressant properties, whereas agonist ligands possess cognition-enhancing and hallucinogenic properties. Abnormal 5-HT2AR activity is associated with a number of psychiatric disorders and conditions, including depression, schizophrenia, and drug addiction. In addition to its traditional activity as a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), recent studies have defined novel operations of 5-HT2ARs. Here we review progress in the (1) receptor anatomy and biology: distribution, signaling, polymerization and allosteric modulation; and (2) receptor functions: learning and memory, hallucination and spatial cognition, and mental disorders. Based on the recent progress in basic research on the 5-HT2AR, it appears that post-training 5-HT2AR activation enhances non-spatial memory consolidation, while pre-training 5-HT2AR activation facilitates fear extinction. Further, the potential influence that 5-HT2AR-elicited visual hallucinations may have on visual cue (i.e., landmark) guided spatial cognition is discussed. We conclude that the development of selective 5-HT2AR modulators to target distinct signaling pathways and neural circuits represents a new possibility for treating emotional, neuropsychiatric, and neurodegenerative disorders. PMID:26500553

Adult-Onset NREM Parasomnia with Hypnopompic Hallucinatory Pain: A Case Report

PubMed Central

Mantoan, Laura; Eriksson, Sofia H.; Nisbet, Angus P.; Walker, Matthew C.

2013-01-01

We report the case of a 43-year-old woman presenting with nocturnal episodes of pain and screaming during sleep starting at age 30. There was no childhood or family history of parasomnia. The events had gradually become more frequent over the years, occurring in the first half of the night within 2 h of sleep onset. There were no triggers, and she had partial amnesia for the events. A diagnosis of adult-onset sleep terrors was made on clinical grounds and supported polysomnographically. Seizures and periodic limb movements were excluded as triggering factors. There was some mild sleep disordered breathing (predominantly non-desaturating hypopnea with a propensity for REM sleep of debatable significance). Imaging of the brain and spine and neurophysiological investigations ruled out lesions, entrapments, or neuropathies as possible causes of pain. Treatment (clonazepam, paroxetine, or gabapentin) was poorly tolerated and made no difference to the nocturnal episodes, while trazodone worsened them. This is the first report of hypnopompic psychic pain in association with a NREM parasomnia. We hypothesize that the pain may represent a sensory hallucination analogous to the more commonly recognized visual NREM parasomnia-associated hypnopompic visual hallucinations and that, as such, it may arise during arousal of the sensory neocortex as confabulatory response. Citation: Mantoan L; Eriksson SH; Nisbet AP; Walker MC. Adult-onset nrem parasomnia with hypnopompic hallucinatory pain: a case report. SLEEP 2013;36(2):287–290. PMID:23372277

Cortical serotonin-S2 receptor binding in Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

PubMed

Cheng, A V; Ferrier, I N; Morris, C M; Jabeen, S; Sahgal, A; McKeith, I G; Edwardson, J A; Perry, R H; Perry, E K

1991-11-01

The binding of the selective 5-HT2 antagonist [3H]ketanserin has been investigated in the temporal cortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease (SDAT), Parkinson's disease (PD), senile dementia of Lewy body type (SDLT) and neuropathologically normal subjects (control). 5-HT2 binding was reduced in SDAT, PD with dementia and SDLT. SDAT showed a 5-HT2 receptor deficit across most of the cortical layers. A significant decrease in 5-HT2 binding in the deep cortical layers was found in those SDLT cases without hallucinations. SDLT cases with hallucinations only showed a deficit in one upper layer. There was a significant difference in cortical layers III and V between SDLT without hallucinations and SDLT with hallucinations. The results confirm an abnormality of serotonin binding in various forms of dementia and suggest that preservation of 5-HT2 receptor in the temporal cortex may differentiate hallucinating from non-hallucinating cases of SDLT.

Gamma Oscillations and Visual Binding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robinson, Peter A.; Kim, Jong Won

2006-03-01

At the root of visual perception is the mechanism the brain uses to analyze features in a scene and bind related ones together. Experiments show this process is linked to oscillations of brain activity in the 30-100 Hz gamma band. Oscillations at different sites have correlation functions (CFs) that often peak at zero lag, implying simultaneous firing, even when conduction delays are large. CFs are strongest between cells stimulated by related features. Gamma oscillations are studied here by modeling mm-scale patchy interconnections in the visual cortex. Resulting predictions for gamma responses to stimuli account for numerous experimental findings, including why oscillations and zero-lag synchrony are associated, observed connections with feature preferences, the shape of the zero-lag peak, and variations of CFs with attention. Gamma waves are found to obey the Schroedinger equation, opening the possibility of cortical analogs of quantum phenomena. Gamma instabilities are tied to observations of gamma activity linked to seizures and hallucinations.

Charles Bonnet syndrome: three cases in the emergency department.

PubMed

Frost, Elizabeth J; Mottley, J Lawrence; Edlow, Jonathan A

2012-05-01

Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) is a cause of visual hallucinations in elderly patients that is often unrecognized by emergency physicians and has a relatively benign course. As the population ages, it is likely that the number of cases of CBS will increase (and thus, the numbers of those who present to an Emergency Department [ED] will be increasing). The case reports presented in this article will facilitate the recognition of CBS by the emergency physician. We describe 3 patients who presented to one ED for visual disturbances and were diagnosed with CBS in a 4-month time period. Recognition of this unusual but stereotypical cause of visual disturbances facilitates an accurate diagnosis, and spares patients the time and expense of blood testing, imaging, and consultations. If emergency physicians begin to recognize this benign entity, we can provide improved (and safer) patient care with appropriate ED interventions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Childhood memories of threatening experiences and submissiveness and its relationship to hallucination proneness and ideas of reference: The mediating role of dissociation.

PubMed

Bellido-Zanin, Gloria; Perona-Garcelán, Salvador; Senín-Calderón, Cristina; López-Jiménez, Ana María; Ruiz-Veguilla, Miguel; Rodríguez-Testal, Juan Francisco

2018-05-29

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of childhood memories of threatening experiences and submissiveness in a diversity of psychological disorders. The purpose of this work was to study their specific relationship with hallucination proneness and ideas of reference in healthy subjects. The ELES scale for measuring memory of adverse childhood experiences, the DES-II scale for measuring dissociation, the LSHS-R scale for measuring hallucination proneness, and the REF for ideas of reference were applied to a sample of 472 subjects. A positive association was found between childhood memories of adverse experiences and hallucination proneness and ideas of reference, on one hand, and dissociation on the other. A mediation analysis showed that dissociation was a mediator between the memory of adverse childhood experiences and hallucination proneness on one hand, and ideas of reference on the other. When the role of mediator of the types of dissociative experiences was studied, it was found that absorption and depersonalization mediated between adverse experiences and hallucination proneness. However, this mediating effect was not found between adverse experiences and ideas of reference. The relationship between these last two variables was direct. The results suggest that childhood memories of adverse experiences are a relevant factor in understanding hallucination proneness and ideas of reference. Similarly, dissociation is a specific mediator between adverse childhood experiences and hallucination proneness. © 2018 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Comparison of Auditory/Visual and Visual/Motor Practice on the Spelling Accuracy of Learning Disabled Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aleman, Cheryl; And Others

1990-01-01

Compares auditory/visual practice to visual/motor practice in spelling with seven elementary school learning-disabled students enrolled in a resource room setting. Finds that the auditory/visual practice was superior to the visual/motor practice on the weekly spelling performance for all seven students. (MG)

Predicting Handwriting Legibility in Taiwanese Elementary School Children.

PubMed

Lee, Tzu-I; Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Chen, Hao-Ling; Wang, Tien-Ni

This study investigates handwriting characteristics and potential predictors of handwriting legibility among typically developing elementary school children in Taiwan. Predictors of handwriting legibility included visual-motor integration (VMI), visual perception (VP), eye-hand coordination (EHC), and biomechanical characteristics of handwriting. A total of 118 children were recruited from an elementary school in Taipei, Taiwan. A computerized program then assessed their handwriting legibility. The biomechanics of handwriting were assessed using a digitizing writing tablet. The children's VMI, VP, and EHC were assessed using the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration. Results indicated that predictive factors of handwriting legibility varied in different age groups. VMI predicted handwriting legibility for first-grade students, and EHC and stroke force predicted handwriting legibility for second-grade students. Kinematic factors such as stroke velocity were the only predictor for children in fifth and sixth grades. Copyright © 2016 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

A Community of One: Social Cognition and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations

PubMed Central

Bell, Vaughan

2013-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations have attracted a great deal of scientific interest, but despite the fact that they are fundamentally a social experience—in essence, a form of hallucinated communication—current theories remain firmly rooted in an individualistic account and have largely avoided engagement with social cognition. Nevertheless, there is mounting evidence for the role of social cognitive and social neurocognitive processes in auditory verbal hallucinations, and, consequently, it is proposed that problems with the internalisation of social models may be key to the experience. PMID:24311984

Nasal cycle dominance and hallucinations in an adult schizophrenic female.

PubMed

Shannahoff-Khalsa, David; Golshan, Shahrokh

2015-03-30

Nasal dominance, at the onset of hallucinations, was studied as a marker of both the lateralized ultradian rhythm of the autonomic nervous system and the tightly coupled ultradian rhythm of alternating cerebral hemispheric dominance in a single case study of a schizophrenic female. Over 1086 days, 145 hallucination episodes occurred with left nostril dominance significantly greater than the right nostril dominant phase of the nasal cycle. A right nostril breathing exercise, that primarily stimulates the left hemisphere, reduces symptoms more quickly for hallucinations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A randomised controlled trial of acceptance-based cognitive behavioural therapy for command hallucinations in psychotic disorders.

PubMed

Shawyer, Frances; Farhall, John; Mackinnon, Andrew; Trauer, Tom; Sims, Eliza; Ratcliff, Kirk; Larner, Chris; Thomas, Neil; Castle, David; Mullen, Paul; Copolov, David

2012-02-01

Command hallucinations represent a special problem for the clinical management of psychosis. While compliance with both non-harmful and harmful commands can be problematic, sometimes in the extreme, active efforts to resist commands may also contribute to their malignancy. Previous research suggests Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to be a useful treatment for reducing compliance with harmful command hallucinations. The purpose of this trial was to evaluate whether CBT augmented with acceptance-based strategies from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy could more broadly reduce the negative impact of command hallucinations. Forty-three participants with problematic command hallucinations were randomized to receive 15 sessions of the intervention "TORCH" (Treatment of Resistant Command Hallucinations) or the control, Befriending, then followed up for 6 months. A sub-sample of 17 participants was randomized to a waitlist control before being allocated to TORCH or Befriending. Participants engaged equally well with both treatments. Despite TORCH participants subjectively reporting greater improvement in command hallucinations compared to Befriending participants, the study found no significant group differences in primary and secondary outcome measures based on blinded assessment data. Within-group analyses and comparisons between the combined treatments and waitlist suggested, however, that both treatments were beneficial with a differential pattern of outcomes observed across the two conditions. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impairment in flexible emotion-based learning in hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals.

PubMed

Cella, Matteo; Dymond, Simon; Cooper, Andrew

2009-11-30

Deficits in emotion-based learning are implicated in many psychiatric disorders. Research conducted with patients with schizophrenia using one of the most popular tasks for the investigation of emotion-based learning, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), has largely been inconclusive. The present study employed a novel, contingency-shifting variant IGT with hallucination- and delusion-prone university students to determine whether previous findings were due merely to the presence of psychosis. Following initial screening of a sample of 253 students (mean age = 20.13 years, S.D. = 3.27), 28 high (10 male, 18 female) and 27 low (12 male, 15 female) hallucination-prone and 27 high (7 male, 20 female) and 26 low (11 male, 15 female) delusion-prone individuals completed the contingency-shifting variant IGT. Results showed no significant differences between the performances of high and low hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals during the original phase of the task. Differences only emerged following the onset of the contingency-shift phases, with individuals high in hallucination- and delusion-proneness having impaired performance compared with low hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals. Overall, the present findings demonstrate that impairments associated with hallucination- and delusion-proneness are specific to the shift phase of the contingency-shifting variant IGT, which supports previous findings with patients with schizophrenia.

Cortical Brain Changes in Patients With Locked-In Syndrome Experiencing Hallucinations and Delusions.

PubMed

Sarà, Marco; Cornia, Riccardo; Conson, Massimiliano; Carolei, Antonio; Sacco, Simona; Pistoia, Francesca

2018-01-01

Previous evidence suggests that hallucinations and delusions may be detected in patients with the most severe forms of motor disability including locked-in syndrome (LIS). However, such phenomena are rarely described in LIS and their presence may be underestimated as a result of the severe communication impairment experienced by the patients. In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the clinical history and the neuroimaging data of a cohort of patients with LIS in order to recognize the presence of hallucinations and delusions and to correlate it with the pontine damage and the presence of any cortical volumetric changes. Ten patients with LIS were included (5 men and 5 women, mean age 50.1 ± 14.6). According to the presence of indicators of symptoms, these patients were categorized as hallucinators ( n  = 5) or non-hallucinators ( n  = 5). MRI images of patients were analyzed using Freesurfer 6.0 software to evaluate volume differences between the two groups. Hallucinators showed a selective cortical volume loss involving the fusiform ( p  = 0.001) and the parahippocampal ( p  = 0.0008) gyrus and the orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus ( p  = 0.001) in the right hemisphere together with the lingual ( p  = 0.01) and the fusiform gyrus ( p  = 0.01) in the left hemisphere. Moreover, a volumetric decrease of bilateral anterior portions of the precuneus was recognized in the hallucinators (right p  = 0.01; left p  = 0.001) as compared to non-hallucinators. We suggested that the presence of hallucinations and delusions in some LIS patients could be accounted for by the combination of a damage of the corticopontocerebellar pathways with cortical changes following the primary brainstem injury. The above areas are embedded within cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical loops involved in self-monitoring and have been related to the presence of hallucinations in other diseases. The two main limitations of our study are the small sample of included patients and the lack of a control group of healthy individuals. Further studies would be of help to expand this field of research in order to integrate existing theories about the mechanisms underlying the generation of hallucinations and delusions in neurological patients.

The effect of auditory verbal imagery on signal detection in hallucination-prone individuals

PubMed Central

Moseley, Peter; Smailes, David; Ellison, Amanda; Fernyhough, Charles

2016-01-01

Cognitive models have suggested that auditory hallucinations occur when internal mental events, such as inner speech or auditory verbal imagery (AVI), are misattributed to an external source. This has been supported by numerous studies indicating that individuals who experience hallucinations tend to perform in a biased manner on tasks that require them to distinguish self-generated from non-self-generated perceptions. However, these tasks have typically been of limited relevance to inner speech models of hallucinations, because they have not manipulated the AVI that participants used during the task. Here, a new paradigm was employed to investigate the interaction between imagery and perception, in which a healthy, non-clinical sample of participants were instructed to use AVI whilst completing an auditory signal detection task. It was hypothesized that AVI-usage would cause participants to perform in a biased manner, therefore falsely detecting more voices in bursts of noise. In Experiment 1, when cued to generate AVI, highly hallucination-prone participants showed a lower response bias than when performing a standard signal detection task, being more willing to report the presence of a voice in the noise. Participants not prone to hallucinations performed no differently between the two conditions. In Experiment 2, participants were not specifically instructed to use AVI, but retrospectively reported how often they engaged in AVI during the task. Highly hallucination-prone participants who retrospectively reported using imagery showed a lower response bias than did participants with lower proneness who also reported using AVI. Results are discussed in relation to prominent inner speech models of hallucinations. PMID:26435050

When the left brain is not right the right brain may be left: report of personal experience of occipital hemianopia

PubMed Central

Cole, M.

1999-01-01

OBJECTIVES—To make a personal report of a hemianopia due to an occipital infarct, sustained by a professor of neurology.
METHODS—Verbatim observation of neurological phenomena recorded during the acute illness.
RESULTS—Hemianopia, visual hallucinations, and non-occipital deficits without extraoccipital lesions on MRI, are described and discussed.
CONCLUSIONS—Hemianopia, due to an occipital infarct, without alexia, is not a disability which precludes a normal professional career. Neurorehabilitation has not been necessary.

 PMID:10406983

How the brain goes out of its mind

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hobson, J. A.

1996-01-01

Dreaming is characterized by formal visual imagery (akin to hallucination), by inconstancy of time, place and person (akin to disorientation), by a scenario-like knitting together of disparate elements (akin to confabulation) and by an inability to recall (akin to amnesia). Taken together, these four dream features are similar to the delirium of organic brain disease. By studying the brain during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep--the phase of sleep in which most dreaming occurs--we can begin to understand its basis in the altered neurophysiology of REM.

Musical hallucinations: a brief review of functional neuroimaging findings.

PubMed

Bernardini, Francesco; Attademo, Luigi; Blackmon, Karen; Devinsky, Orrin

2017-10-01

Musical hallucinations are uncommon phenomena characterized by intrusive and frequently distressful auditory musical percepts without an external source, often associated with hypoacusis, psychiatric illness, focal brain lesion, epilepsy, and intoxication/pharmacology. Their physiological basis is thought to involve diverse mechanisms, including "release" from normal sensory or inhibitory inputs as well as stimulation during seizures, or they can be produced by functional or structural disorders in diverse cortical and subcortical areas. The aim of this review is to further explore their pathophysiology, describing the functional neuroimaging findings regarding musical hallucinations. A literature search of the PubMed electronic database was conducted through to 29 December 2015. Search terms included "musical hallucinations" combined with the names of specific functional neuroimaging techniques. A total of 18 articles, all clinical case reports, providing data on 23 patients, comprised the set we reviewed. Diverse pathological processes and patient populations with musical hallucinations were included in the studies. Converging data from multiple studies suggest that the superior temporal sulcus is the most common site and that activation is the most common mechanism. Further neurobiological research is needed to clarify the pathophysiology of musical hallucinations.

White matter tract integrity predicts visual search performance in young and older adults.

PubMed

Bennett, Ilana J; Motes, Michael A; Rao, Neena K; Rypma, Bart

2012-02-01

Functional imaging research has identified frontoparietal attention networks involved in visual search, with mixed evidence regarding whether different networks are engaged when the search target differs from distracters by a single (elementary) versus multiple (conjunction) features. Neural correlates of visual search, and their potential dissociation, were examined here using integrity of white matter connecting the frontoparietal networks. The effect of aging on these brain-behavior relationships was also of interest. Younger and older adults performed a visual search task and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to reconstruct 2 frontoparietal (superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculus; SLF and ILF) and 2 midline (genu, splenium) white matter tracts. As expected, results revealed age-related declines in conjunction, but not elementary, search performance; and in ILF and genu tract integrity. Importantly, integrity of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, ILF, and genu tracts predicted search performance (conjunction and elementary), with no significant age group differences in these relationships. Thus, integrity of white matter tracts connecting frontoparietal attention networks contributes to search performance in younger and older adults. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

White Matter Tract Integrity Predicts Visual Search Performance in Young and Older Adults

PubMed Central

Bennett, Ilana J.; Motes, Michael A.; Rao, Neena K.; Rypma, Bart

2011-01-01

Functional imaging research has identified fronto-parietal attention networks involved in visual search, with mixed evidence regarding whether different networks are engaged when the search target differs from distracters by a single (elementary) versus multiple (conjunction) features. Neural correlates of visual search, and their potential dissociation, were examined here using integrity of white matter connecting the fronto-parietal networks. The effect of aging on these brain-behavior relationships was also of interest. Younger and older adults performed a visual search task and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to reconstruct two fronto-parietal (superior and inferior longitudinal fasciculus, SLF and ILF) and two midline (genu, splenium) white matter tracts. As expected, results revealed age-related declines in conjunction, but not elementary, search performance; and in ILF and genu tract integrity. Importantly, integrity of the SLF, ILF, and genu tracts predicted search performance (conjunction and elementary), with no significant age group differences in these relationships. Thus, integrity of white matter tracts connecting fronto-parietal attention networks contributes to search performance in younger and older adults. PMID:21402431

Level conceptual change pre-service elementary teachers on electric current conceptions through visual multimedia supported conceptual change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermita, N.; Suhandi, A.; Syaodih, E.; Samsudin, A.; Marhadi, H.; Sapriadil, S.; Zaenudin, Z.; Rochman, C.; Mansur, M.; Wibowo, F. C.

2018-05-01

Now a day, conceptual change is the most valuable issues in the science education perspective, especially in the elementary education. Researchers have already dialed with the aim of the research to increase level conceptual change process on the electric conceptions through Visual Multimedia Supported Conceptual Change Text (VMMSCCText). We have ever utilized research and development method namely 3D-1I stands for Define, Design, Development, and Implementation. The 27 pre-service elementary teachers were involved in the research. The battery function in circuit electric conception is the futuristic concept which should have been learned by the students. Moreover, the data which was collected reports that static about 0%, disorientation about 0%, reconstruction about 55.6%, and construction about 25.9%. It can be concluded that the implementation of VMMSCCText to pre-service elementary teachers are increased to level conceptual change categories.

Elementary Teachers' Selection and Use of Visual Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Tammy D.; Gail Jones, M.

2018-02-01

As science grows in complexity, science teachers face an increasing challenge of helping students interpret models that represent complex science systems. Little is known about how teachers select and use models when planning lessons. This mixed methods study investigated the pedagogical approaches and visual models used by elementary in-service and preservice teachers in the development of a science lesson about a complex system (e.g., water cycle). Sixty-seven elementary in-service and 69 elementary preservice teachers completed a card sort task designed to document the types of visual models (e.g., images) that teachers choose when planning science instruction. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to analyze the card sort task. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a subsample of teachers to elicit the rationale for image selection. Results from this study showed that both experienced in-service teachers and novice preservice teachers tended to select similar models and use similar rationales for images to be used in lessons. Teachers tended to select models that were aesthetically pleasing and simple in design and illustrated specific elements of the water cycle. The results also showed that teachers were not likely to select images that represented the less obvious dimensions of the water cycle. Furthermore, teachers selected visual models more as a pedagogical tool to illustrate specific elements of the water cycle and less often as a tool to promote student learning related to complex systems.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for hallucination in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yingli; Liang, Wei; Yang, Shichang; Dai, Ping; Shen, Lijuan; Wang, Changhong

2013-01-01

Objective: This study assessed the efficacy and tolerability of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment of auditory hallucination of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Data Sources: Online literature retrieval was conducted using PubMed, ISI Web of Science, EMBASE, Medline and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases from January 1985 to May 2012. Key words were “transcranial magnetic stimulation”, “TMS”, “repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation”, and “hallucination”. Study Selection: Selected studies were randomized controlled trials assessing therapeutic efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for hallucination in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Experimental intervention was low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in left temporoparietal cortex for treatment of auditory hallucination in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Control groups received sham stimulation. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was total scores of Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale, Auditory Hallucination Subscale of Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale, Positive and Negative Symptom Scale-Auditory Hallucination item, and Hallucination Change Scale. Secondary outcomes included response rate, global mental state, adverse effects and cognitive function. Results: Seventeen studies addressing repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment of schizophrenia spectrum disorders were screened, with controls receiving sham stimulation. All data were completely effective, involving 398 patients. Overall mean weighted effect size for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation versus sham stimulation was statistically significant (MD = –0.42, 95%CI: –0.64 to –0.20, P = 0.000 2). Patients receiving repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation responded more frequently than sham stimulation (OR = 2.94, 95%CI: 1.39 to 6.24, P = 0.005). No significant differences were found between active repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and sham stimulation for positive or negative symptoms. Compared with sham stimulation, active repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation had equivocal outcome in cognitive function and commonly caused headache and facial muscle twitching. Conclusion: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for auditory hallucination in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. PMID:25206578

The interactions between religion, religiosity, religious delusion/hallucination, and treatment-seeking behavior among schizophrenic patients in Taiwan.

PubMed

Huang, Charles Lung-Cheng; Shang, Chi-Yung; Shieh, Ming-Shien; Lin, Hsin-Nan; Su, Jin Chung-Jen

2011-05-30

Religion could influence the psychopathology, treatment-seeking behavior, and treatment outcome in schizophrenia, but the associations between these factors have never been explored thoroughly, and the data in Han-Chinese society are scarcer still. The current study recruited 55 schizophrenic patients to explore the relationship between religion, psychopathology with religious content, treatment-seeking behavior, and outcome. Subjects with religious delusions/hallucinations had lower scores on functioning and higher scores on religiosity. The higher religiosity scores were correlated with older age, longer duration of illness, religious affiliation, lower preference of psychiatric treatment, lower functioning score, and delusion/hallucination. As to treatment-seeking behavior, patients with religious affiliation showed less preference toward psychiatric treatment. Individuals with religious delusion/hallucination were more likely to receive magico-religious healing and not to be satisfied with psychiatric treatment. A more positive view of psychiatric treatment was predicted by lower religiosity score, higher satisfaction with psychiatric treatment, and lower years of education. The religiosity level seems not directly related to clinical severity, but it seems to be a better predictor of religious delusions/hallucinations than religious affiliation status. Patients with religious delusions/hallucinations did not necessarily have more severe psychopathology. There are different profiles associated with religious affiliation/religiosity and religious delusions/hallucinations in relation to treatment-seeking behavior among schizophrenia patients in Han-Chinese society. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Suicidality in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: the relationship to hallucinations and persecutory delusions.

PubMed

Kjelby, E; Sinkeviciute, I; Gjestad, R; Kroken, R A; Løberg, E-M; Jørgensen, H A; Hugdahl, K; Johnsen, E

2015-10-01

Assessment of suicide risk is crucial in schizophrenia and results concerning risk contributed by hallucinations and persecutory delusions are inconsistent. We aimed to determine factors associated with suicidal ideation and plans at the time of acute admission in patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders. One hundred and twenty-four patients older than 18 years admitted to an acute psychiatric ward due to psychosis were consecutively included. Predictors of suicidal ideation and suicide plans at the time of admission were examined with multinominal logistic regression and structural equation modelling (SEM). The study design was pragmatic, thus entailing a clinically relevant representation. Depression Odds Ratio (OR) 12.9, Drug use OR 4.07, Hallucinations OR 2.55 and Negative symptoms OR 0.88 significantly predicted Suicidal ideation. Suspiciousness/ Persecution did not. Only Depression and Hallucinations significantly predicted Suicide plans. In the SEM-model Anxiety, Depression and Hopelessness connected Suspiciousness/Persecution, Hallucinations and Lack of insight with Suicidal ideation and Suicide plans. The study contributes to an increasing evidence base supporting an association between hallucinations and suicide risk. We want to emphasise the importance of treating depression and hallucinations in psychotic disorders, reducing hopelessness while working with insight and reducing drug abuse in order to lower suicide risk. ClinicalTrials.gov ID; URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/NCT00932529. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Schizophrenia-like symptoms in narcolepsy type 1: shared and distinctive clinical characteristics.

PubMed

Plazzi, Giuseppe; Fabbri, Chiara; Pizza, Fabio; Serretti, Alessandro

2015-01-01

The occurrence of psychotic symptoms in narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) has been reported as responsible for delayed diagnosis due to the misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. This study aimed to identify shared and distinctive clinical characteristics between NT1 and schizophrenia, with the focus on psychotic symptoms. A total of 28 NT1 and 21 schizophrenia patients were included. Hallucination characteristics and PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale), HRSD (Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression), DES (Dissociative Experiences Scale), and STAI (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) scores were collected. Symptom overlap was investigated by χ(2), Fisher's or t tests and multiple logistic regression models. Hallucinations and illusions frequently occurred in both diseases. Unimodal hallucinations were more common in schizophrenia (p = 6.30e-07) and multimodal hallucinations in NT1, but no clear difference was identified in their sensory modality. Hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations were typical of NT1 (p = 5.22e-07), and 25% of NT1 patients exhibited some degree of insight deficit. Hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations, unimodal hallucinations and PANSS score were the most distinctive clinical characteristics. Clinical overlap was found in the dissociative and anxiety domains, while higher depressive scores were observed in schizophrenia. The overlap between NT1 and schizophrenia should be further investigated under a clinical and pathogenetic point of view to improve diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Regional cortical thinning predicts worsening apathy and hallucinations across the Alzheimer disease spectrum.

PubMed

Donovan, Nancy J; Wadsworth, Lauren P; Lorius, Natacha; Locascio, Joseph J; Rentz, Dorene M; Johnson, Keith A; Sperling, Reisa A; Marshall, Gad A

2014-11-01

To examine regions of cortical thinning and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer disease (AD) biomarkers associated with apathy and hallucinations in a continuum of individuals including clinically normal elderly, mild cognitive impairment, and mild AD dementia. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Fifty-seven research sites across North America. Eight-hundred twelve community-dwelling volunteers; 413 participants in the CSF sub-study. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data and CSF concentrations of amyloid-β 1-42, total tau, and phosphorylated tau derived from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database were analyzed. Apathy and hallucinations were measured at baseline and over 3 years using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire. General linear models and mixed effects models were used to evaluate the relationships among baseline cortical thickness in seven regions, and baseline CSF biomarkers, apathy, and hallucinations at baseline and longitudinally. Covariates included diagnosis, sex, age, apolipoprotein E genotype, premorbid intelligence, memory performance, processing speed, antidepressant use, and AD duration. Reduced baseline inferior temporal cortical thickness was predictive of increasing apathy over time, and reduced supramarginal cortical thickness was predictive of increasing hallucinations over time. There was no association with cortical thickness at baseline. CSF biomarkers were not related to severity of apathy or hallucinations in cross-sectional or longitudinal analyses. These results suggest that greater baseline temporal and parietal atrophy is associated with worsening apathy and hallucinations in a large AD spectrum cohort, while adjusting for multiple disease-related variables. Localized cortical neurodegeneration may contribute to the pathophysiology of apathy and hallucinations and their adverse consequences in AD. Copyright © 2014 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reduced integrity of the left arcuate fasciculus is specifically associated with auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia.

PubMed

McCarthy-Jones, Simon; Oestreich, Lena K L; Whitford, Thomas J

2015-03-01

Schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) have reduced structural integrity in the left arcuate fasciculus (AFL) compared to healthy controls. However, it is neither known whether these changes are specific to AVH, as opposed to hallucinations or schizophrenia per se, nor how radial and/or axial diffusivity are altered. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that reductions to the structural integrity of the AFL are specifically associated with AVH in schizophrenia. Diffusion tensor imaging scans and clinical data were obtained from the Australian Schizophrenia Research Bank for 39 schizophrenia patients with lifetime AVH (18 current, 21 remitted), 74 schizophrenia patients with no lifetime AVH (40 with lifetime hallucinations in other modalities, 34 no lifetime hallucinations) and 40 healthy controls. Fractional anisotropy was significantly reduced in the AFL of patients with lifetime AVH compared to both healthy controls (Cohen's d=1.24) and patients without lifetime AVH (d=.72), including compared to the specific subsets of patients without AVH who either had hallucinations in other modalities (d=.69) or no history of any hallucinations (d=.73). Radial, but not axial, diffusivity was significantly increased in patients with lifetime AVH compared to both healthy controls (d=.89) and patients without lifetime AVH (d=.39). Evidence was found for a non-linear relation between fractional anisotropy in the AFL and state AVH. Reduced integrity of the AFL is specifically associated with AVH, as opposed to schizophrenia in general or hallucinations in other modalities. Increased radial diffusivity suggests dysmyelination or demyelination of the AFL may play a role in AVH. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Negative hallucination, self-onsciousness and ageing].

PubMed

Hazif-Thomas, C; Stephan, F; Walter, M; Thomas, P

2015-04-01

Negative hallucinations are characterized by a defect in perception of an object or a person, or a denial of the existence of their perception. Negative hallucinations create blank spaces, due to both an impossible representation and an incapability of investment in reality. They have a close relationship with Cotard's syndrome, delusional theme of organ denial observed in melancholic syndromes in the elderly. Phenomenological approach. The phenomenology of negative hallucinations provides quite an amount of information on the origin of the psychotic symptoms when one is rather old. The connections between hallucinations, mood disorders and negative symptoms are often difficult to live with for the nearest and dearest. Negative hallucinations require a strict approach to identify their expression that is crucial because a wide heterogeneity exists within the pathological pictures, as in Cotard's syndrome. Although the negative hallucination has an anti traumatic function in elderly people fighting against mental pain, it still represents a deficiency in symbolization. The prevalence of this symptom is without doubt underestimated, although its presence often underlines thymic suffering that is more striking. These hallucinatory symptoms have an important impact on the patients' daily life, and they appear to be prisoners of a suffering, which cannot be revealed. We propose in this article to review the clinical symptoms of negative hallucinations in the elderly and the way to manage them. The medicinal approaches are not always effective. A greater place must be given to what is in connection with the body, aiming at a strong impact and thus to offer non-pharmacological approaches, such as somatic ones, which can be either invasive (electroconvulsive therapy) or not (transcranial magnetic stimulation). Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Suggested Activities to Use With Children Who Present Symptoms of Visual Perception Problems, Elementary Level.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington County Public Schools, Washington, PA.

Symptoms displayed by primary age children with learning disabilities are listed; perceptual handicaps are explained. Activities are suggested for developing visual perception and perception involving motor activities. Also suggested are activities to develop body concept, visual discrimination and attentiveness, visual memory, and figure ground…

Studying Hallucinations Within the NIMH RDoC Framework

PubMed Central

Ford, Judith M.; Morris, Sarah E.; Hoffman, Ralph E.; Sommer, Iris; Waters, Flavie; McCarthy-Jones, Simon; Thoma, Robert J.; Turner, Jessica A.; Keedy, Sarah K.; Badcock, Johanna C.; Cuthbert, Bruce N.

2014-01-01

We explore how hallucinations might be studied within the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, which asks investigators to step back from diagnoses based on symptoms and focus on basic dimensions of functioning. We start with a description of the objectives of the RDoC project and its domains and constructs. Because the RDoC initiative asks investigators to study phenomena across the wellness spectrum and different diagnoses, we address whether hallucinations experienced in nonclinical populations are the same as those experienced by people with psychotic diagnoses, and whether hallucinations studied in one clinical group can inform our understanding of the same phenomenon in another. We then discuss the phenomenology of hallucinations and how different RDoC domains might be relevant to their study. We end with a discussion of various challenges and potential next steps to advance the application of the RDoC approach to this area of research. PMID:24847862

Léon Marillier and the veridical hallucination in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century French psychology and psychopathology.

PubMed

Le Maléfan, Pascal; Sommer, Andreas

2015-12-01

Recent research on the professionalization of psychology at the end of the nineteenth century shows how objects of knowledge which appear illegitimate to us today shaped the institutionalization of disciplines. The veridical or telepathic hallucination was one of these objects, constituting a field both of division and exchange between nascent psychology and disciplines known as 'psychic sciences' in France, and 'psychical research' in the Anglo-American context. In France, Leon Marillier (1862-1901) was the main protagonist in discussions concerning the concept of the veridical hallucination, which gave rise to criticisms by mental specialists and psychopathologists. After all, not only were these hallucinations supposed to occur in healthy subjects, but they also failed to correspond to the Esquirolian definition of hallucinations through being corroborated by their representation of external, objective events. © The Author(s) 2015.

"A Little Bit of This and Not Too Much of That…": Is There a Recipe for Class Display Load Level in Elementary Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milo-Shussman, Yael

2017-01-01

The classroom display in elementary schools usually reflects the teacher's efforts and vision. Upon entering an elementary school classroom one may often encounter visual overload. How can teachers determine the appropriate amount of elements to be on display? How can they create the accurate recipe for pleasant and efficient displays? It seems…

A Portrait of Elementary Visual Arts Educators: Investigating the Pedagogy, Characteristics and Beliefs of Three Exceptional Elementary Art Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunter-Doniger, Tracey

2012-01-01

This qualitative research study explores the characteristics and pedagogical practices of three exceptional elementary art teachers. From this collective inquiry of case studies, three factors specific to these art teachers began to surface time and time again. These are the Context Driven A.R.T. Factors. A.R.T. is an acronym for Advocacy,…

The predictive value of baseline NAA/Cr for treatment response of first-episode schizophrenia: A ¹H MRS study.

PubMed

Liu, Weibo; Yu, Hualiang; Jiang, Biao; Pan, Bing; Yu, Shaohua; Li, Huichun; Zheng, Leilei

2015-07-23

The study focused on the predictive value of baseline metabolite ratios in bilateral hippocampus of first-episode schizophrenia by using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS). (1)H MRS data were acquired from 23 hallucination and 17 non-hallucination first-episode schizophrenia patients compared with 17 healthy participants. Clinical characteristics of patients were rated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) before and after 3-month treatment. The schizophrenia patients showed lower NAA/Cr ratio than healthy participants respectively (p=0.024; p=0.001), and non-hallucination patients had even lower NAA/Cr ratio than hallucination patients (p=0.033). After 3-month treatment, hallucination patients had greater improvement in negative symptoms than non-hallucination patients (p=0.018). The reduction of PANSS total score and negative factor score was positively correlated with the left NAA/Cr in both group patients (p<0.05). Given that the bilateral hippocampal baseline NAA/Cr had predictive value for the whole treatment response, and the left hippocampal NAA/Cr can predict the prognosis of negative symptoms during acute phase medication in first-episode schizophrenia. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus in Lewy body diseases.

PubMed

Brooks, Daniel; Halliday, Glenda M

2009-02-16

Although the intralaminar thalamus is a target of alpha-synuclein pathology in Parkinson's disease, the degree of neuronal loss in Lewy body diseases has not been assessed. We have used unbiased stereological techniques to quantify neuronal loss in intralaminar thalamic nuclei concentrating alpha-synuclein pathology (the anterodorsal, cucullar, parataenial, paraventricular, central medial, central lateral and centre-median/parafascicular complex) in different clinical forms of Lewy body disease (Parkinson's disease with and without dementia, and dementia with Lewy bodies, N=21) compared with controls (N=5). Associations were performed in the Lewy body cases between intralaminar cell loss and the main diagnostic clinical (parkinsonism, dementia, fluctuation in consciousness, and visual hallucinations) and pathological (Braak stage of Parkinson's disease) features of these diseases, as well as between cell loss and the scaled severity of the alpha-synuclein deposition within the intralaminar thalamus. As expected, significant alpha-synuclein accumulation occurred in the intralaminar thalamus in the cases with Lewy body disease. Pathology concentrated anteriorly and in the central lateral and paraventricular nuclei was related to the Braak stage of Parkinson's disease, ageing, and the presence of dementia. Across all types of Lewy body cases there was substantial atrophy and neuronal loss in the central lateral, cucullar and parataenial nuclei, and neuronal loss without atrophy in the centre-median/parafascicular complex. Cases with visual hallucinations showed a greater degree of atrophy of the cucullar nucleus, possibly due to amygdala denervation. The significant degeneration demonstrated in the intralaminar thalamus is likely to contribute to the movement and cognitive dysfunction observed in Lewy body disorders.

[A Clinical Case of Grief Hallucination through the Mourning Work Normal Grief and Spiritual Care].

PubMed

Kurotori, Isaku; Kato, Satoshi

2015-01-01

Auditory or visual hallucinations of a deceased person are well known in the normal course of the bereavement process. According to DSM-5, this symptom is included in the associated features supporting diagnosis of persistent complex bereavement disorder. In Japan, however, little is known about these hallucinatory experiences during grieving, and few reports on their prevalence are available. Here, we have reported a clinical case of such experiences following the loss of a spouse. A 66-year-old patient presented to the outpatient department with insomnia after her husband's death. She was preoccupied with a sense of loss and absolute loneliness. One day, she confessed to regularly encountering her husband's ghost at night; the ghost was distinguishable from a dream and provided the bereaved wife with some degree of comfort. The appearances lasted for 15 months and occurred several times a week without disturbing her social functioning. She gradually became aware that her husband was returning from the spirit world to give her solace. Her treatment was focused on resolving her conflicting feelings concerning her grief at his death and her relief at his no longer suffering from disease. While accepting her experiences, she started to review the days they spent together and appreciated his attachment. Therefore she completed the work of mourning and the ghost no longer appeared. One year after the departure of the ghost, she still attends the hospital regularly and there has been no recurrence. A reconstruction of her internal world leads us to conclude that the support of normal grief with such hallucinations prevents the intense experience of loss from generating pathological grief. Furthermore, we suggest reconsidering the importance of the mourning work and the inclusion of both the bereaved and deceased person in the medical context.

Evaluation of inner-outer space distinction and verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Stephane, Massoud; Kuskowski, Michael; McClannahan, Kate; Surerus, Christa; Nelson, Katie

2010-09-01

Verbal hallucinations could result from attributing one's own inner speech to another. Inner speech is usually experienced in inner space, whereas hallucinations are often experienced in outer space. To clarify this paradox, we investigated schizophrenia patients' ability to distinguish between speech experienced in inner space, and speech experienced in outer space. 32 schizophrenia patients and 26 matched healthy controls underwent a two-stage experiment. First, they read sentences aloud or silently. Afterwards, they were required to distinguish between the sentences read aloud (experienced in outer space), the sentences read silently (experienced in inner space), and new sentences not previously read (no space coding). The sentences were in the first, second, or third person in equal proportions. Linear mixed models were used to investigate the effects of group, sentence location, pronoun, and hallucinations status. Schizophrenia patients were similar to controls in recognition capacity of sentences without space coding. They exhibited both inner-outer and outer-inner space confusion (they confused silently read sentences for sentences read aloud, and vice versa). Patients who experienced hallucinations inside their head were more likely to have outer-inner space bias. For speech generated by one's own brain, schizophrenia patients have bidirectional failure of inner-outer space distinction (inner-outer and outer-inner space biases); this might explain why hallucinations (abnormal inner speech) could be experienced in outer space. Furthermore, the direction of inner-outer space indistinction could determine the spatial location of the experienced hallucinations (inside or outside the head).

Distress, omnipotence, and responsibility beliefs in command hallucinations.

PubMed

Ellett, Lyn; Luzon, Olga; Birchwood, Max; Abbas, Zarina; Harris, Abi; Chadwick, Paul

2017-09-01

Command hallucinations are considered to be one of the most distressing and disturbing symptoms of schizophrenia. Building on earlier studies, we compare key attributes in the symptomatic, affective, and cognitive profiles of people diagnosed with schizophrenia and hearing voices that do (n = 77) or do not (n = 74) give commands. The study employed a cross-sectional design, in which we assessed voice severity, distress and control (PSYRATs), anxiety and depression (HADS), beliefs about voices (BAVQ-R), and responsibility beliefs (RIQ). Clinical and demographic variables were also collected. Command hallucinations were found to be more distressing and controlling, perceived as more omnipotent and malevolent, linked to higher anxiety and depression, and resisted more than hallucinations without commands. Commanding voices were also associated with higher conviction ratings for being personally responsible for preventing harm. The findings suggest key differences in the affective and cognitive profiles of people who hear commanding voices, which have important implications for theory and psychological interventions. Command hallucinations are associated with higher distress, malevolence, and omnipotence. Command hallucinations are associated with higher responsibility beliefs for preventing harm. Responsibility beliefs are associated with voice-related distress. Future psychological interventions for command hallucinations might benefit from focussing not only on omnipotence, but also on responsibility beliefs, as is done in psychological therapies for obsessive compulsive disorder. Limitations The cross-sectional design does not assess issues of causality. We did not measure the presence or severity of delusions. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

[Hallucinations and borderline personality disorder: a review].

PubMed

Gras, A; Amad, A; Thomas, P; Jardri, R

2014-12-01

Hallucinations constitute understudied symptoms in borderline personality disorders (BPD), which can be observed in about 30% of the patients, essentially in the auditory modality. Most of these experiences are transitory, triggered by intermittent stressors, but chronicity remains a major cause of concern. In order to better circumscribe hallucinations in BPD, we summarized the literature on this particular phenomenon. We conducted a review using Medline, Scopus and Google Scholar databases up to March 2013, using the following keywords combinations: "borderline personality disorder", "hallucinat*" and "psychotic symptoms". Papers were included in the review if they were published in an English or French language peer-reviewed journal; the study enrolled patients with BPD; and the diagnosis was made according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) criteria. Fifteen studies published between 1985 and 2012, merging a total of 635 patients, were retained. The hallucinatory experiences observed in BPD appeared phenomenologically similar to those described in the schizophrenia spectrum in terms of vividness, duration, spatial localization, beliefs about malevolence or omnipotence. Conversely, the hallucinatory content appeared more negative and potentially more distressful. Crucially, this literature search also revealed that these symptoms have long been regarded as "pseudo-hallucinations" (or "hallucination-like symptoms"). This concept was judged of poor scientific validity, inducing stigma for BPD patients in that it casts doubt on the authenticity of these experiences while disqualifying the related distress. This situation points out that research should focus more on understanding hallucinations in BPD than questioning their existence. Interestingly, recent comorbidity studies reopened a 40-year debate on the potential links that may exist between BPD and psychosis. Initially considered as a para-psychotic disorder, BPD was effectively redefined as an independent category by Otto F. Kernberg, leading to the DSM-III definition, excluding any psychotic symptom. However, hallucinations per se remain insufficient to diagnose schizophrenia, while comorbid substance use disorders as well as mood disorders, cannot explain all the hallucination occurrences in BPD. By referring to the "psychotic-reactivity-to-stress" framework, we proposed to understand hallucinations in BPD in relation to a hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and of the dopaminergic system under stress. Childhood trauma may have a central role in such a model. The prevalence of childhood trauma is high in BPD but this factor was also evidenced strongly linked with hallucinations in non-clinical populations. Comparisons are finally made and discussed between hallucinations occurring in BPD and those observed in posttraumatic stress disorder, another frequent comorbid disorder. Almost a third of patients with BPD experiences hallucinations, and future studies will have to clarify the pathophysiology of this symptom, still poorly understood. Both the models of psychotic-reactivity-to-stress, as well as the role of childhood trauma in the context of a gene X environment interaction, appear to be promising cues for future research. Copyright © 2014 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Cholinergic and dopaminergic activities in senile dementia of Lewy body type.

PubMed

Perry, E K; Marshall, E; Perry, R H; Irving, D; Smith, C J; Blessed, G; Fairbairn, A F

1990-01-01

Analyses of brain tissue in a recently identified group of elderly demented patients suggest a neurochemical basis for some of the clinical features. Senile dementia of the Lewy body type (SDLT) can be distinguished from classical Alzheimer disease (AD) clinically by its acute presentation with confusion frequently accompanied by visual hallucinations, and neuropathologically by the presence of Lewy bodies and senile plaques (but not generally neurofibrillary tangles) in the cerebral cortex. Reductions in the cortical cholinergic enzyme choline acetyltransferase were more pronounced in individuals with (80%) compared to those without (50%) hallucinations and correlated strongly with mental test scores in the group as a whole. In the caudate nucleus, dopamine levels were related to the number of neurons in the substantia nigra, there being a 40-60% loss of both in SDLT--probably accounting for mild extrapyramidal features in some of these cases--compared with an 80% loss in Parkinson disease and no change in AD. The cholinergic correlates of mental impairment in SDLT together with the relative absence of cortical neurofibrillary tangles and evidence for postsynaptic cholinergic receptor compensation raise the question of whether this type of dementia may be more amenable to cholinotherapy than classical AD.

Phototaxis and the origin of visual eyes

PubMed Central

Randel, Nadine

2016-01-01

Vision allows animals to detect spatial differences in environmental light levels. High-resolution image-forming eyes evolved from low-resolution eyes via increases in photoreceptor cell number, improvements in optics and changes in the neural circuits that process spatially resolved photoreceptor input. However, the evolutionary origins of the first low-resolution visual systems have been unclear. We propose that the lowest resolving (two-pixel) visual systems could initially have functioned in visual phototaxis. During visual phototaxis, such elementary visual systems compare light on either side of the body to regulate phototactic turns. Another, even simpler and non-visual strategy is characteristic of helical phototaxis, mediated by sensory–motor eyespots. The recent mapping of the complete neural circuitry (connectome) of an elementary visual system in the larva of the annelid Platynereis dumerilii sheds new light on the possible paths from non-visual to visual phototaxis and to image-forming vision. We outline an evolutionary scenario focusing on the neuronal circuitry to account for these transitions. We also present a comprehensive review of the structure of phototactic eyes in invertebrate larvae and assign them to the non-visual and visual categories. We propose that non-visual systems may have preceded visual phototactic systems in evolution that in turn may have repeatedly served as intermediates during the evolution of image-forming eyes. PMID:26598725

Gifted Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luehning, Barbara

1979-01-01

Describes programs for the gifted: visual and performing arts for secondary students, enrichment for rural elementary students, and a learning center elementary enrichment program. NOTE: includes "INTERARTS: The High School Program for the Talented in the Arts" by Barbara Luehning, "Spice" by Jane V. Salisbury, and "Learning Center Enrichment…

The serotonin hallucinogen 5-MeO-DMT alters cortico-thalamic activity in freely moving mice: Regionally-selective involvement of 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors.

PubMed

Riga, Maurizio S; Lladó-Pelfort, Laia; Artigas, Francesc; Celada, Pau

2017-12-06

5-MeO-DMT is a natural hallucinogen acting as serotonin 5-HT 1A /5-HT 2A receptor agonist. Its ability to evoke hallucinations could be used to study the neurobiology of psychotic symptoms and to identify new treatment targets. Moreover, recent studies revealed the therapeutic potential of serotonin hallucinogens in treating mood and anxiety disorders. Our previous results in anesthetized animals show that 5-MeO-DMT alters cortical activity via 5-HT 1A and 5-HT 2A receptors. Here, we examined 5-MeO-DMT effects on oscillatory activity in prefrontal (PFC) and visual (V1) cortices, and in mediodorsal thalamus (MD) of freely-moving wild-type (WT) and 5-HT 2A -R knockout (KO2A) mice. We performed local field potential multi-recordings evaluating the power at different frequency bands and coherence between areas. We also examined the prevention of 5-MeO-DMT effects by the 5-HT 1A -R antagonist WAY-100635. 5-MeO-DMT affected oscillatory activity more in cortical than in thalamic areas. More marked effects were observed in delta power in V1 of KO2A mice. 5-MeO-DMT increased beta band coherence between all examined areas. In KO2A mice, WAY100635 prevented most of 5-MeO-DMT effects on oscillatory activity. The present results indicate that hallucinatory activity of 5-MeO-DMT is likely mediated by simultaneous alteration of prefrontal and visual activities. The prevention of these effects by WAY-100635 in KO2A mice supports the potential usefulness of 5-HT 1A receptor antagonists to treat visual hallucinations. 5-MeO-DMT effects on PFC theta activity and cortico-thalamic coherence may be related to its antidepressant activity. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Sleep and Wakefulness Handbook for Flight Medical Officers

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-07-01

cataplexy, sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations. There may also be disturbed nocturnal sleep with awakenings, body movements and Uttle...sleep. It may occur many times a day, or once a week or even less, and may disappear completely. Sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations occur...muscles except those controUing the eyes, and this state is often accompanied by intense fear and by hypnagogic hallucinations. Respiration is not

Seizures induced by music.

PubMed

Ogunyemi, A O; Breen, H

1993-01-01

Musicogenic epilepsy is a rare disorder. Much remains to be learned about the electroclinical features. This report describes a patient who has been followed at our institution for 17 years, and was investigated with long-term telemetered simultaneous video-EEG recordings. She began to have seizures at the age of 10 years. She experienced complex partial seizures, often preceded by elementary auditory hallucination and complex auditory illusion. The seizures occurred in relation to singing, listening to music or thinking about music. She also had occasional generalized tonic clonic seizures during sleep. There was no significant antecedent history. The family history was negative for epilepsy. The physical examination was unremarkable. CT and MRI scans of the brain were normal. During long-term simultaneous video-EEG recordings, clinical and electrographic seizure activities were recorded in association with singing and listening to music. Mathematical calculation, copying or viewing geometric patterns and playing the game of chess failed to evoke seizures.

Charles Bonnet syndrome: a review.

PubMed

Schadlu, Anita P; Schadlu, Ramin; Shepherd, J Banks

2009-05-01

The aging of the population and the resultant increase in the number of patients with low vision due to age-related macular degeneration and other ocular diseases necessitate an increase in awareness of the Charles Bonnet syndrome among ophthalmic care providers. The clinical features of Charles Bonnet syndrome have been described by several different authors as formed visual hallucinations due to disturbances of the visual system in patients who are otherwise mentally normal. Theories regarding the causes underlying the Charles Bonnet syndrome are multifaceted and offer insight into the function of the visual system. The incidence of the Charles Bonnet syndrome varies among different population groups, but is underdiagnosed in most settings. Recent case reports of treatment options involve varied pharmacologic interventions, but visual improvement and patient reassurance remain the mainstays of treatment. As Charles Bonnet syndrome becomes more prevalent as the population ages, all physicians who care for low vision or elderly patients should be aware of its clinical characteristics and treatment options. Understanding of this syndrome by caregivers will lead to decreased anxiety among the patients who experience it. Further exploration of treatment options will be necessary in the future.

Sounds and Sense-Abilities: Science for All

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plourde, Lee A.; Klemm, E. Barbara

2004-01-01

Activities-oriented instruction offers multi modal opportunities for learning science. How do college students in elementary pre-service teacher preparation programs describe science lab activities in terms of visual, kinesthetic, auditory and motor characteristics? Research with elementary science methods students shows that the Levels of…

The Charles Bonnet syndrome: a review of recent research.

PubMed

Rovner, Barry W

2006-06-01

The Charles Bonnet syndrome is a disorder of visual hallucinations typically occurring in older persons with vision impairment or deafferentation of the visual cortex. This review cites recent studies on Charles Bonnet syndrome and discusses treatment options. The numbers of affected persons will increase with aging of the population, making recognition and treatment important components of ophthalmologic care. The etiology of the Charles Bonnet syndrome is varied; most often it involves direct damage to the visual system (e.g. age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma) but it may also result from cerebral pathology interrupting connections between the eye and the occipital cortex. Case reports of different management approaches demonstrate the range of treatment options. This review suggests that the Charles Bonnet syndrome will affect an increasingly large number of older persons as the population ages and the occurrence of vision and cerebral disorders increases. Clinical trials of antipsychotic and other medications, as well as low-vision rehabilitation, are necessary to establish valid treatments for this disorder.

Suicide Risk, Stress Sensitivity, and Self-Esteem among Young Adults Reporting Auditory Hallucinations.

PubMed

DeVylder, Jordan E; Hilimire, Matthew R

2015-08-01

Individuals with subthreshold psychotic experiences are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behavior, similar to those with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. This may be explained by shared risk factors such as heightened stress sensitivity or low self-esteem. Understanding the nature of this relationship could inform suicide prevention in social work practice. In this study, authors examined the relationship between self-reported auditory hallucinations and suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts, in a nonclinical sample of young adults, controlling for scores on the Psychological Stress Index and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Auditory hallucinations were associated with approximately double the odds of suicidal ideation and plans and four times the odds for suicide attempts. This relationship was not explained by stress sensitivity or self-esteem, which were independently related to hallucinations and suicidality, respectively. Subthreshold auditory hallucinations may be a useful indicator of suicide risk. This association may represent a clinically significant relationship that may be addressed through social work interventions intended to alleviate stress sensitivity or improve self-esteem.

Testing a model of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and psychosis in a first-episode psychosis group: the role of hallucinations and delusions, posttraumatic intrusions, and selective attention.

PubMed

Bendall, Sarah; Hulbert, Carol Anne; Alvarez-Jimenez, Mario; Allott, Kelly; McGorry, Patrick D; Jackson, Henry James

2013-11-01

Several theories suggest that posttraumatic intrusive symptoms are central to the relationship between childhood trauma (CT) and hallucinations and delusions in psychosis. Biased selective attention has been implicated as a cognitive process underlying posttraumatic intrusions. The current study sought to test theories of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA), hallucinations and delusions, posttraumatic intrusions, and selective attention in first-episode psychosis (FEP). Twenty-eight people with FEP and 21 nonclinical controls were assessed for CT and psychotic and posttraumatic stress symptoms and completed an emotional Stroop test using CSA-related and other words. Those with FEP and CSA had more severe hallucinations and delusions than those with FEP and without CSA. They also reported posttraumatic intrusions at clinical levels and showed selective attention to CSA-related words. The results are consistent with the posttraumatic intrusions account of hallucinations and delusions in those with CSA and psychosis.

Right prefrontal rTMS treatment for refractory auditory command hallucinations - a neuroSPECT assisted case study.

PubMed

Schreiber, Shaul; Dannon, Pinhas N; Goshen, Elinor; Amiaz, Revital; Zwas, Tzila S; Grunhaus, Leon

2002-11-30

Auditory command hallucinations probably arise from the patient's failure to monitor his/her own 'inner speech', which is connected to activation of speech perception areas of the left cerebral cortex and to various degrees of dysfunction of cortical circuits involved in schizophrenia as supported by functional brain imaging. We hypothesized that rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), by increasing cortical activation of the right prefrontal brain region, would bring about a reduction of the hallucinations. We report our first schizophrenic patient affected with refractory command hallucinations treated with 10 Hz rTMS. Treatment was performed over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, with 1200 magnetic stimulations administered daily for 20 days at 90% motor threshold. Regional cerebral blood flow changes were monitored with neuroSPECT. Clinical evaluation and scores on the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale demonstrated a global improvement in the patient's condition, with no change in the intensity and frequency of the hallucinations. NeuroSPECT performed at intervals during and after treatment indicated a general improvement in cerebral perfusion. We conclude that right prefrontal rTMS may induce a general clinical improvement of schizophrenic brain function, without directly influencing the mechanism involved in auditory command hallucinations.

Auditory top-down control and affective theory of mind in schizophrenia with and without hallucinations.

PubMed

Rominger, Christian; Bleier, Angelika; Fitz, Werner; Marksteiner, Josef; Fink, Andreas; Papousek, Ilona; Weiss, Elisabeth M

2016-07-01

Social cognitive impairments may represent a core feature of schizophrenia and above all are a strong predictor of positive psychotic symptoms. Previous studies could show that reduced inhibitory top-down control contributes to deficits in theory of mind abilities and is involved in the genesis of hallucinations. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between auditory inhibition, affective theory of mind and the experience of hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. In the present study, 20 in-patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls completed a social cognition task (the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test) and an inhibitory top-down Dichotic Listening Test. Schizophrenia patients with greater severity of hallucinations showed impaired affective theory of mind as well as impaired inhibitory top-down control. More dysfunctional top-down inhibition was associated with poorer affective theory of mind performance, and seemed to mediate the association between impairment to affective theory of mind and severity of hallucinations. The findings support the idea of impaired theory of mind as a trait marker of schizophrenia. In addition, dysfunctional top-down inhibition may give rise to hallucinations and may further impair affective theory of mind skills in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Command hallucinations and clinical characteristics of suicidality in patients with psychotic spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Wong, Zerlina; Öngür, Dost; Cohen, Bruce; Ravichandran, Caitlin; Noam, Gil; Murphy, Beth

2013-08-01

Suicide is a leading cause of death among patients with psychotic illnesses. Several researchers have suggested that specific illness symptoms may better predict suicide risk. An ability to identify high-risk patients would aid clinicians in instituting risk-reduction measures to decrease suicidal behavior in this population. We examined the association between psychotic symptoms and suicidal behavior among 148 inpatients with psychosis using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Measures of suicidality were obtained from risk assessment clinical data routinely collected during intake. For individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosed psychotic spectrum disorder, 40% (n=57) endorsed suicidal ideation on admission and 23% (n=33) endorsed a recent suicide attempt. The presence of command auditory hallucinations was significantly associated with active suicidal ideation across diagnostic categories. Similarly, a greater percentage of patients endorsed a recent suicide attempt in the presence of command hallucinations. These correlations with CAH are noteworthy, as we found no significant difference in the prevalence of SI among those with and without general auditory hallucinations (42.5% and 37.7%). The presence of command auditory hallucinations, in particular, but not auditory hallucinations, in general, was associated with suicidal behavior. These results indicate that command auditory hallucinations may identify or even place psychotic individuals at greater risk for acute, suicidal behavior--these symptoms should be the target of immediate and aggressive characterization and treatment. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Network dynamics during the different stages of hallucinations in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Lefebvre, Stéphanie; Demeulemeester, Morgane; Leroy, Arnaud; Delmaire, Christine; Lopes, Renaud; Pins, Delphine; Thomas, Pierre; Jardri, Renaud

2016-07-01

The majority of patients with schizophrenia suffer from hallucinations. While the triple-network model, which includes the default mode network (DMN), the central executive network (CEN) and the salience network (SAL), has recently been applied to schizophrenia, how this framework could explain the emergence of hallucinations remains unclear. Therefore, complementary brain regions that have been linked to hallucinations, such as the left hippocampus, should also be considered and added to this model. Accordingly, the present study explored the effective connectivity across these four components (i.e., the quadripartite model) during the different stages of hallucinations. Twenty-five patients with schizophrenia participated in a single session of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to capture hallucinatory experiences. Based on the participants' self-report of the psychosensory experiences that occurred during scanning, hallucinatory experiences were identified and divided into four stages: periods without hallucination ("OFF"), periods with hallucination ("ON"), transition periods between "OFF" and "ON", and the extinction of the hallucinatory experience ("END"). Using stochastic dynamic causal modeling analysis, this study first confirmed that the SAL played a critical and causal role in switching between the CEN and the DMN in schizophrenia. In addition, effective connectivity within the quadripartite model depended on the hallucinatory stage. In particular, "ON" periods were linked to memory-based sensory input from the hippocampus to the SAL, while "END" periods were associated with a takeover of the CEN in favor of a voluntary process. Finally, the pathophysiological and therapeutic implications of these findings are critically discussed. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2571-2586, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Musical hallucinations - a challenge for psychiatric therapeutical management. Case report.

PubMed

Focseneanu, B E; Marian, G

2015-01-01

Background. Musical hallucinations occur in individuals with and without mental illness, and many patients tend to have intact reality testing. Although literature on musical hallucinations is limited, they have been associated with hearing abnormalities, adverse effects of pharmacological agents, female gender, advances in age and psychiatric illness. Aim. To present the psychiatric management of a case of an old female patient, who suddenly developed verbal and musical hallucinations with a pervasive impact on her daily activities. Method. Female, 71 years old, developed verbal and musical hallucinations 6 months before that have intensified later. She was known with bilateral hypoacusia starting with the age of 45, and magnetic resonance imaging performed 1 year before proved multiple lacunar infarcts. Because of the persistence, most of the time of these auditory hallucinations, the patient experienced pervasive difficulties with her major areas of activities. She was referred to a psychiatric department for evaluation and treatment. Results. The psychiatric consult revealed neither a depressive relapse, nor a mild cognitive impairment, and obsessive-compulsive disorder was suspected with intrusive obsessions. Patient received, as antiobsessional augmentation escitalopram 10mg/ day, an atypical antipsychotic, risperidone, which at 3 mg/ day induced extrapyramidal symptoms and cognitive impairment. Therefore, the dose of risperidone was reduced, extrapyramidal symptoms disappeared, and 300mg/ day of acidum valproicum was initiated. Discussion. Our patient presented with diminished sensory input to the auditory cortex, and it was hard to make a differential diagnosis between an organic and a mental etiology. Conclusion. The integration of musical hallucinations into a psychiatric disorder may be a difficult task, and, their treatment represents a challenge.

Short and Long Term Effects of Left and Bilateral Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Schizophrenia Patients with Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Bais, Leonie; Vercammen, Ans; Stewart, Roy; van Es, Frank; Visser, Bert; Aleman, André; Knegtering, Henderikus

2014-01-01

Background Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the left temporo-parietal junction area has been studied as a treatment option for auditory verbal hallucinations. Although the right temporo-parietal junction area has also shown involvement in the genesis of auditory verbal hallucinations, no studies have used bilateral stimulation. Moreover, little is known about durability effects. We studied the short and long term effects of 1 Hz treatment of the left temporo-parietal junction area in schizophrenia patients with persistent auditory verbal hallucinations, compared to sham stimulation, and added an extra treatment arm of bilateral TPJ area stimulation. Methods In this randomized controlled trial, 51 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and persistent auditory verbal hallucinations were randomly allocated to treatment of the left or bilateral temporo-parietal junction area or sham treatment. Patients were treated for six days, twice daily for 20 minutes. Short term efficacy was measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale (AHRS), and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). We included follow-up measures with the AHRS and PANAS at four weeks and three months. Results The interaction between time and treatment for Hallucination item P3 of the PANSS showed a trend for significance, caused by a small reduction of scores in the left group. Although self-reported hallucination scores, as measured with the AHRS and PANAS, decreased significantly during the trial period, there were no differences between the three treatment groups. Conclusion We did not find convincing evidence for the efficacy of left-sided rTMS, compared to sham rTMS. Moreover, bilateral rTMS was not superior over left rTMS or sham in improving AVH. Optimizing treatment parameters may result in stronger evidence for the efficacy of rTMS treatment of AVH. Moreover, future research should consider investigating factors predicting individual response. Trial Registration Dutch Trial Register NTR1813 PMID:25329799

Use of transcranial direct current stimulation for the treatment of auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia – a systematic review

PubMed Central

Pondé, Pedro H; de Sena, Eduardo P; Camprodon, Joan A; de Araújo, Arão Nogueira; Neto, Mário F; DiBiasi, Melany; Baptista, Abrahão Fontes; Moura, Lidia MVR; Cosmo, Camila

2017-01-01

Introduction Auditory hallucinations are defined as experiences of auditory perceptions in the absence of a provoking external stimulus. They are the most prevalent symptoms of schizophrenia with high capacity for chronicity and refractoriness during the course of disease. The transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) – a safe, portable, and inexpensive neuromodulation technique – has emerged as a promising treatment for the management of auditory hallucinations. Objective The aim of this study is to analyze the level of evidence in the literature available for the use of tDCS as a treatment for auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. Methods A systematic review was performed, searching in the main electronic databases including the Cochrane Library and MEDLINE/PubMed. The searches were performed by combining descriptors, applying terms of the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of Descriptors of Health Sciences and descriptors contractions. PRISMA protocol was used as a guide and the terms used were the clinical outcomes (“Schizophrenia” OR “Auditory Hallucinations” OR “Auditory Verbal Hallucinations” OR “Psychosis”) searched together (“AND”) with interventions (“transcranial Direct Current Stimulation” OR “tDCS” OR “Brain Polarization”). Results Six randomized controlled trials that evaluated the effects of tDCS on the severity of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients were selected. Analysis of the clinical results of these studies pointed toward incongruence in the information with regard to the therapeutic use of tDCS with a view to reducing the severity of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. Only three studies revealed a therapeutic benefit, manifested by reductions in severity and frequency of auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenic patients. Conclusion Although tDCS has shown promising results in reducing the severity of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients, this technique cannot yet be used as a therapeutic alternative due to lack of studies with large sample sizes that portray the positive effects that have been described. PMID:28203084

Milford Visual Communications Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milford Exempted Village Schools, OH.

This study discusses a visual communications project designed to develop activities to promote visual literacy at the elementary and secondary school levels. The project has four phases: (1) perception of basic forms in the environment, what these forms represent, and how they inter-relate; (2) discovery and communication of more complex…

Alcohol withdrawal

MedlinePlus

... Seeing or feeling things that aren't there (hallucinations) Seizures Severe confusion ... alcohol withdrawal. You will be watched closely for hallucinations and other signs of delirium tremens. Treatment may ...

Soil Science in the Digital Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

High, Vance; VanHorn, Laura

2012-01-01

With the pervasiveness of digital technology, elementary students almost instinctively begin inquiry-based instruction with a bias. Visual information from digital devices competes with elementary science inquiry. To counteract this effect, teachers can use advance organizers. The advance organizer is a tool or a mental learning aid to help…

HLA typing does not predict REM sleep behaviour disorder and hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Onofrj, Marco; Luciano, Anna Lisa; Iacono, Diego; Thomas, Astrid; Stocchi, Fabrizio; Papola, Franco; Adorno, Domenico; Di Mascio, Rocco

2003-03-01

HLA-DR2 haplotype and DQ1 DNA alleles, characterizing 90 to 100% of all narcoleptic patients, were found to be equally distributed in 20 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with early hallucinations, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-related behaviour disturbances (RBD), and sleep onset in REM (SOREM), and in 20 PD patients without hallucinations, despite 10 to 15 years of treatment, and no RBD or SOREM.

Another Way of Knowing: Visualizing the Ancient Silk Routes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bisland, Beverly Milner

2010-01-01

One way that people learn, remember and communicate is visually. We combine past experiences with new visual information to construct meaning. In this study, elementary teachers introduced their students to the peoples and places of the ancient silk routes using illustrations from two children's picture books, "Marco Polo," written by…

The Relevance of Visual Sequential Memory to Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crispin, Lisa; And Others

1984-01-01

Results of three visual sequential memory tests and a group reading test given to 19 elementary students are discussed in terms of task analysis and structuralist approaches to analysis of reading skills. Relation of visual sequential memory to other reading subskills is considered in light of current reasearch. (CMG)

Selecting Spanish Books in the Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corona, Elia

2007-01-01

In this article, the author recommends a certain criteria for selecting Spanish-language books for elementary students such as cultural factors, setting, time, age, language and visuals. She also enumerates some authors and a listing of their many bilingual texts, which can be used to enrich a school or classroom library.

Imagery Teaches Elementary Economics Schema Efficiently.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKenzie, Gary R.

In a complex domain such as economics, elementary school students' knowledge of formal systems beyond their immediate experience is often too incomplete, superficial, and disorganized to function as schema or model. However, visual imagery is a good technique for teaching young children a network of 10 to 20 propositions and the relationships…

Low visual information-processing speed and attention are predictors of fatigue in elementary and junior high school students

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Fatigue is a common complaint among elementary and junior high school students, and is known to be associated with reduced academic performance. Recently, we demonstrated that fatigue was correlated with decreased cognitive function in these students. However, no studies have identified cognitive predictors of fatigue. Therefore, we attempted to determine independent cognitive predictors of fatigue in these students. Methods We performed a prospective cohort study. One hundred and forty-two elementary and junior high school students without fatigue participated. They completed a variety of paper-and-pencil tests, including list learning and list recall tests, kana pick-out test, semantic fluency test, figure copying test, digit span forward test, and symbol digit modalities test. The participants also completed computerized cognitive tests (tasks A to E on the modified advanced trail making test). These cognitive tests were used to evaluate motor- and information-processing speed, immediate and delayed memory function, auditory and visual attention, divided and switching attention, retrieval of learned material, and spatial construction. One year after the tests, a questionnaire about fatigue (Japanese version of the Chalder Fatigue Scale) was administered to all the participants. Results After the follow-up period, we confirmed 40 cases of fatigue among 118 students. In multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for grades and gender, poorer performance on visual information-processing speed and attention tasks was associated with increased risk of fatigue. Conclusions Reduced visual information-processing speed and poor attention are independent predictors of fatigue in elementary and junior high school students. PMID:21672212

Low visual information-processing speed and attention are predictors of fatigue in elementary and junior high school students.

PubMed

Mizuno, Kei; Tanaka, Masaaki; Fukuda, Sanae; Yamano, Emi; Shigihara, Yoshihito; Imai-Matsumura, Kyoko; Watanabe, Yasuyoshi

2011-06-14

Fatigue is a common complaint among elementary and junior high school students, and is known to be associated with reduced academic performance. Recently, we demonstrated that fatigue was correlated with decreased cognitive function in these students. However, no studies have identified cognitive predictors of fatigue. Therefore, we attempted to determine independent cognitive predictors of fatigue in these students. We performed a prospective cohort study. One hundred and forty-two elementary and junior high school students without fatigue participated. They completed a variety of paper-and-pencil tests, including list learning and list recall tests, kana pick-out test, semantic fluency test, figure copying test, digit span forward test, and symbol digit modalities test. The participants also completed computerized cognitive tests (tasks A to E on the modified advanced trail making test). These cognitive tests were used to evaluate motor- and information-processing speed, immediate and delayed memory function, auditory and visual attention, divided and switching attention, retrieval of learned material, and spatial construction. One year after the tests, a questionnaire about fatigue (Japanese version of the Chalder Fatigue Scale) was administered to all the participants. After the follow-up period, we confirmed 40 cases of fatigue among 118 students. In multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for grades and gender, poorer performance on visual information-processing speed and attention tasks was associated with increased risk of fatigue. Reduced visual information-processing speed and poor attention are independent predictors of fatigue in elementary and junior high school students. © 2011 Mizuno et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

An artificial elementary eye with optic flow detection and compositional properties.

PubMed

Pericet-Camara, Ramon; Dobrzynski, Michal K; Juston, Raphaël; Viollet, Stéphane; Leitel, Robert; Mallot, Hanspeter A; Floreano, Dario

2015-08-06

We describe a 2 mg artificial elementary eye whose structure and functionality is inspired by compound eye ommatidia. Its optical sensitivity and electronic architecture are sufficient to generate the required signals for the measurement of local optic flow vectors in multiple directions. Multiple elementary eyes can be assembled to create a compound vision system of desired shape and curvature spanning large fields of view. The system configurability is validated with the fabrication of a flexible linear array of artificial elementary eyes capable of extracting optic flow over multiple visual directions. © 2015 The Author(s).

Effect of low-frequency rTMS on electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) and regional brain metabolism (PET) in schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Horacek, Jiri; Brunovsky, Martin; Novak, Tomas; Skrdlantova, Lucie; Klirova, Monika; Bubenikova-Valesova, Vera; Krajca, Vladimir; Tislerova, Barbora; Kopecek, Milan; Spaniel, Filip; Mohr, Pavel; Höschl, Cyril

2007-01-01

Auditory hallucinations are characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia with high clinical importance. It was repeatedly reported that low frequency (

fMRI capture of auditory hallucinations: Validation of the two-steps method.

PubMed

Leroy, Arnaud; Foucher, Jack R; Pins, Delphine; Delmaire, Christine; Thomas, Pierre; Roser, Mathilde M; Lefebvre, Stéphanie; Amad, Ali; Fovet, Thomas; Jaafari, Nemat; Jardri, Renaud

2017-10-01

Our purpose was to validate a reliable method to capture brain activity concomitant with hallucinatory events, which constitute frequent and disabling experiences in schizophrenia. Capturing hallucinations using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) remains very challenging. We previously developed a method based on a two-steps strategy including (1) multivariate data-driven analysis of per-hallucinatory fMRI recording and (2) selection of the components of interest based on a post-fMRI interview. However, two tests still need to be conducted to rule out critical pitfalls of conventional fMRI capture methods before this two-steps strategy can be adopted in hallucination research: replication of these findings on an independent sample and assessment of the reliability of the hallucination-related patterns at the subject level. To do so, we recruited a sample of 45 schizophrenia patients suffering from frequent hallucinations, 20 schizophrenia patients without hallucinations and 20 matched healthy volunteers; all participants underwent four different experiments. The main findings are (1) high accuracy in reporting unexpected sensory stimuli in an MRI setting; (2) good detection concordance between hypothesis-driven and data-driven analysis methods (as used in the two-steps strategy) when controlled unexpected sensory stimuli are presented; (3) good agreement of the two-steps method with the online button-press approach to capture hallucinatory events; (4) high spatial consistency of hallucinatory-related networks detected using the two-steps method on two independent samples. By validating the two-steps method, we advance toward the possible transfer of such technology to new image-based therapies for hallucinations. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4966-4979, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Disjunctivism, hallucinations, and metacognition.

PubMed

Jérôme, Dokic; Jean-Rémy, Martin

2012-09-01

Perceptual experiences have been construed either as representational mental states-Representationalism-or as direct mental relations to the external world-Disjunctivism. Both conceptions are critical reactions to the so-called 'Argument from Hallucination', according to which perceptions cannot be about the external world, since they are subjectively indiscriminable from other, hallucinatory experiences, which are about sense-data or mind-dependent entities. Representationalism agrees that perceptions and hallucinations share their most specific mental kind, but accounts for hallucinations as misrepresentations of the external world. According to Disjunctivism, the phenomenal character of perceptions is exhausted by worldly objects and features, and thus must be different from the phenomenal character of hallucinations. Disjunctivism claims that subjective indiscriminability is not the result of a common experiential ground, but is because of our inability to discriminate, from the inside, hallucinations from perceptions. At first sight, Representationalism is more congenial to the way cognitive science deals with perception. However, empirically oriented revisions of Disjunctivism could be developed and tested by giving a metacognitive account of hallucinations. Two versions of this account can be formulated, depending on whether metacognition is understood as explicit metarepresentation or as implicit monitoring of first-order informational states. The first version faces serious objections, but the second is more promising, as it embodies a more realistic view of perceptual phenomenology as having both sensory and affective aspects. Affect-based phenomenology is constituted by various metacognitive feelings, such as the feeling of being perceptually confronted with the world itself, rather than with pictures or mere representations. WIREs Cogn Sci 2012 doi: 10.1002/wcs.1190 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

External misattribution of internal thoughts and proneness to auditory hallucinations: the effect of emotional valence in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm

PubMed Central

Kanemoto, Mari; Asai, Tomohisa; Sugimori, Eriko; Tanno, Yoshihiko

2013-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that a tendency to externalize internal thought is related to auditory hallucinations or even proneness to auditory hallucinations (AHp) in the general population. However, although auditory hallucinations are related to emotional phenomena, few studies have investigated the effect of emotional valence on the aforementioned relationship. In addition, we do not know what component of psychotic phenomena relate to externalizing bias. The current study replicated our previous research, which suggested that individual differences in auditory hallucination-like experiences are strongly correlated with the external misattribution of internal thoughts, conceptualized in terms of false memory, using the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. We found a significant relationship between experimental performance and total scores on the Launay–Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS). Among the LSHS factors, only vivid mental image, which is said to be a predictor of auditory hallucinations, was significantly related to experimental performance. We then investigated the potential effect of emotional valence using the DRM paradigm. The results indicate that participants with low scores on the LSHS (the low-AHp group in the current study) showed an increased discriminability index (d′) for positive words and a decreased d′ for negative words. However, no effects of emotional valence were found for participants with high LSHS scores (high-AHp group). This study indicated that external misattribution of internal thoughts predicts AHp, and that the high-AHp group showed a smaller emotional valence effect in the DRM paradigm compared with the low-AHp group. We discuss this outcome from the perspective of the dual-process activation-monitoring framework in the DRM paradigm in regard to emotion-driven automatic thought in false memory. PMID:23847517

A verbal behavior analysis of auditory hallucinations

PubMed Central

Burns, Caleb E. S.; Heiby, Elaine M.; Tharp, Roland G.

1983-01-01

A review of recent research on the non-medical control of auditory hallucinations is presented. It is suggested that the decreases in hallucinatory behavior obtained in studies using aversive contingencies may be attributable to the disruption of the chains of behavior involved. The results of several additional studies are interpreted as indicating that methods of stimulus control and the use of incompatible behaviors may be effective in reducing the rate of auditory hallucinations. Research relating auditory hallucinations to subvocalizations is presented in support of the view that hallucinatory phenomena are sometimes related to the subject's own vocal productions. Skinner's views (1934, 1936, 1953, 1957, 1980) are then presented as possible explanations of some hallucinatory behavior. It is suggested that some auditory hallucinations consit of the mishearing of environmental and physiological stimuli as voices in a fashion similar to that which Skinner observed in his work with the verbal summator. The maintenance of long chains of such responses may be largely attributable to self-intraverbal influences (such as are present during automatic writing). With some auditory hallucinations, this progression involves first mishearing ambiguous stimuli as voices and then attributing the voices to some cause (e.g., insanity, the television, radio, or God). Later, the frequent and ongoing chains of such behavior may contaminate other verbal responses. Such verbal behavior may be parasitic on “normal verbal behavior” (and hence, not directly dependent on consquences for maintenance), may be cued by various stimuli (including respiration), and may interfere with other covert and overt behavior. Several studies to investigate this view are presented. It is hoped that such research will lead to a better understanding of the major issues involved in the etiology and treatment of auditory hallucinations in particular and perhaps of psychosis in general. PMID:22478583

Left-Dominant Temporal-Frontal Hypercoupling in Schizophrenia Patients With Hallucinations During Speech Perception

PubMed Central

Lavigne, Katie M.; Rapin, Lucile A.; Metzak, Paul D.; Whitman, Jennifer C.; Jung, Kwanghee; Dohen, Marion; Lœvenbruck, Hélène; Woodward, Todd S.

2015-01-01

Background: Task-based functional neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia have not yet replicated the increased coordinated hyperactivity in speech-related brain regions that is reported with symptom-capture and resting-state studies of hallucinations. This may be due to suboptimal selection of cognitive tasks. Methods: In the current study, we used a task that allowed experimental manipulation of control over verbal material and compared brain activity between 23 schizophrenia patients (10 hallucinators, 13 nonhallucinators), 22 psychiatric (bipolar), and 27 healthy controls. Two conditions were presented, one involving inner verbal thought (in which control over verbal material was required) and another involving speech perception (SP; in which control verbal material was not required). Results: A functional connectivity analysis resulted in a left-dominant temporal-frontal network that included speech-related auditory and motor regions and showed hypercoupling in past-week hallucinating schizophrenia patients (relative to nonhallucinating patients) during SP only. Conclusions: These findings replicate our previous work showing generalized speech-related functional network hypercoupling in schizophrenia during inner verbal thought and SP, but extend them by suggesting that hypercoupling is related to past-week hallucination severity scores during SP only, when control over verbal material is not required. This result opens the possibility that practicing control over inner verbal thought processes may decrease the likelihood or severity of hallucinations. PMID:24553150

Structural covariance in the hallucinating brain: a voxel-based morphometry study

PubMed Central

Modinos, Gemma; Vercammen, Ans; Mechelli, Andrea; Knegtering, Henderikus; McGuire, Philip K.; Aleman, André

2009-01-01

Background Neuroimaging studies have indicated that a number of cortical regions express altered patterns of structural covariance in schizophrenia. The relation between these alterations and specific psychotic symptoms is yet to be investigated. We used voxel-based morphometry to examine regional grey matter volumes and structural covariance associated with severity of auditory verbal hallucinations. Methods We applied optimized voxel-based morphometry to volumetric magnetic resonance imaging data from 26 patients with medication-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs); statistical inferences were made at p < 0.05 after correction for multiple comparisons. Results Grey matter volume in the left inferior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with severity of AVHs. Hallucination severity influenced the pattern of structural covariance between this region and the left superior/middle temporal gyri, the right inferior frontal gyrus and hippocampus, and the insula bilaterally. Limitations The results are based on self-reported severity of auditory hallucinations. Complementing with a clinician-based instrument could have made the findings more compelling. Future studies would benefit from including a measure to control for other symptoms that may covary with AVHs and for the effects of antipsychotic medication. Conclusion The results revealed that overall severity of AVHs modulated cortical intercorrelations between frontotemporal regions involved in language production and verbal monitoring, supporting the critical role of this network in the pathophysiology of hallucinations. PMID:19949723

Biotin

MedlinePlus

... mouth. Other symptoms include depression, lack of interest, hallucinations, and tingling in the arms and legs. Low ... and mouth. Nervous system symptoms include depression, exhaustion, hallucinations, and tingling of the arms and legs. There ...

Delirium

MedlinePlus

... occur together. Delirium starts suddenly and can cause hallucinations. The symptoms may get better or worse, and ... hand, dementia develops slowly and does not cause hallucinations. The symptoms are stable, and may last for ...

From Phenomenology to Neurophysiological Understanding of Hallucinations in Children and Adolescents

PubMed Central

Jardri, Renaud; Bartels-Velthuis, Agna A.; Debbané, Martin; Jenner, Jack A.; Kelleher, Ian; Dauvilliers, Yves; Plazzi, Giuseppe; Demeulemeester, Morgane; David, Christopher N.; Rapoport, Judith; Dobbelaere, Dries; Escher, Sandra; Fernyhough, Charles

2014-01-01

Typically reported as vivid, multisensory experiences which may spontaneously resolve, hallucinations are present at high rates during childhood. The risk of associated psychopathology is a major cause of concern. On the one hand, the risk of developing further delusional ideation has been shown to be reduced by better theory of mind skills. On the other hand, ideas of reference, passivity phenomena, and misidentification syndrome have been shown to increase the risk of self-injury or heteroaggressive behaviors. Cognitive psychology and brain-imaging studies have advanced our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying these early-onset hallucinations. Notably, specific functional impairments have been associated with certain phenomenological characteristics of hallucinations in youths, including intrusiveness and the sense of reality. In this review, we provide an update of associated epidemiological and phenomenological factors (including sociocultural context, social adversity, and genetics, considered in relation to the psychosis continuum hypothesis), cognitive models, and neurophysiological findings concerning hallucinations in children and adolescents. Key issues that have interfered with progress are considered and recommendations for future studies are provided. PMID:24936083

Bath Salts

MedlinePlus

... panic attacks depression suicidal thoughts paranoia delusions and hallucinations distorted sense of reality decreased ability to think ... of bath salts may cause people to have hallucinations, hear voices, feel paranoid, and develop a psychosis ...

Improving Empathy and Communication Skills of Visually Impaired Early Adolescents through a Psycho-Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildiz, Mehmet Ali; Duy, Baki

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an interpersonal communication skills psycho-education program to improve empathy and communication skills of visually impaired adolescents. Participants of the study were sixteen early adolescents schooling in an elementary school for visually impaired youth in Diyarbakir. The…

The Effect of Visual Devices Based on Bruner's Modes of Representation on Teaching Concepts of Electrostatics to Elementary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIntyre, Patrick J.; Reed, Jack A.

1976-01-01

Visual devices were used, corresponding to Bruner's three types of information-processing models: enactive (action), iconic (imagery), and symbolic (language). Concluded that the type of visual device had no significant effect on the subjects' achievement on an electrostatics concepts test. (MLH)

Perception of Elementary Students of Visuals on the Web.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Tigi, Manal A.; And Others

The way information is visually designed and synthesized greatly affects how people understand and use that information. Increased use of the World Wide Web as a teaching tool makes it imperative to question how visual/verbal information presented via the Web can increase or restrict understanding. The purpose of this study was to examine…

Social Studies for the Visually Impaired Child. MAVIS Sourcebook 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Singleton, Laurel R.

Suggestions are made in this sourcebook for adapting teaching strategies and curriculum materials in social studies to accomodate the needs of the visually impaired (VI) student. It is presented in eight chapters. Chapter one explains why elementary grade social studies, with its emphasis on visual media, presents difficulties for VI children.…

Cough & Cold Medicine Abuse

MedlinePlus

... people take too much DXM, they might have hallucinations and "out-of-body" sensations. DXM also depresses ... heart function. Taking a lot of DXM causes hallucinations and out-of-body sensations similar to the ...

Hallucinations of musical notation.

PubMed

Sacks, Oliver

2013-07-01

Hallucinations of musical notation may occur in a variety of conditions, including Charles Bonnet syndrome, Parkinson's disease, fever, intoxications, hypnagogic and hypnopompic states. Eight cases are described here, and their possible cerebral mechanisms discussed.

Alternatives: A Survey of Title III, ESEA, Projects in New Mexico.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Mexico State Dept. of Education, Santa Fe.

This survey provides a moderately detailed description of each of 13 projects funded under 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III. Freedom High School is an alternative school. The Resource Room for Visually Impaired Children was established in 1972. The Remediating Motor Dysfunction project helps elementary school students to enter a…

Disciplinary Views of Corresponding Elementary School Subjects. Elementary Subjects Center Series No. 27.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brophy, Jere

For this study, professors representing eight disciplines--science, mathematics, political science, music, literature, history, geography, and the visual arts--were asked first to review historical trends and current thinking in their disciplines and then to prepare papers about the ways in which the disciplines should be represented in the…

Design, Customization and Implementation of Energy Simulation with 5E Model in Elementary Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lye, Sze Yee; Wee, Loo Kang; Kwek, Yao Chie; Abas, Suriati; Tay, Lee Yong

2014-01-01

Science simulations are popular among educators as such simulations afford for multiple visual representation and interactivity. Despite the popularity and abundance on the internet, our literature review suggested little research has been conducted on the use of simulation in elementary school. Thus, an exploratory pilot case study was conducted…

"Espanol para ti": A Video Program That Works.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Elena; Johnson, Holly

2000-01-01

Describes the development of "Espanol para ti," a video program for teaching Spanish at the elementary school level. The program was designed for use in Clark County, Nevada elementary schools and is taught by a certified Spanish teacher via video twice a week, utilizing comprehensible input through visuals, games, and songs that are conducive to…

Accommodating Elementary Students' Learning Styles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, James

1995-01-01

Examines the perceptual learning style preferences of sixth- and seventh-grade students in the Philippines. Finds that the visual modality was the most preferred and the auditory modality was the least preferred. Offers suggestions for accommodating visual, tactile, and kinesthetic preferences. (RS)

The function and failure of sensory predictions.

PubMed

Bansal, Sonia; Ford, Judith M; Spering, Miriam

2018-04-23

Humans and other primates are equipped with neural mechanisms that allow them to automatically make predictions about future events, facilitating processing of expected sensations and actions. Prediction-driven control and monitoring of perceptual and motor acts are vital to normal cognitive functioning. This review provides an overview of corollary discharge mechanisms involved in predictions across sensory modalities and discusses consequences of predictive coding for cognition and behavior. Converging evidence now links impairments in corollary discharge mechanisms to neuropsychiatric symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. We review studies supporting a prediction-failure hypothesis of perceptual and cognitive disturbances. We also outline neural correlates underlying prediction function and failure, highlighting similarities across the visual, auditory, and somatosensory systems. In linking basic psychophysical and psychophysiological evidence of visual, auditory, and somatosensory prediction failures to neuropsychiatric symptoms, our review furthers our understanding of disease mechanisms. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

An odd manifestation of the Capgras syndrome: loss of familiarity even with the sexual partner.

PubMed

Thomas Antérion, C; Convers, P; Desmales, S; Borg, C; Laurent, B

2008-06-01

We report the case of a patient who presented visual hallucinations and identification disorders associated with a Capgras syndrome. During the Capgras periods, there was not only a misidentification of his wife's face, but also a more global perceptive and emotional sexual identification disorder. Thus, he had sexual intercourse with his wife's "double" without having the slightest recollection feeling of familiarity towards his "wife" and even changed his sexual habits. To the best of our knowledge, he is the only neurological patient who made his wife a mistress. Starting from this global familiarity loss, we discuss the mechanism of Capgras delusion with reference to the role of the implicit system of face recognition. Such behavior of familiarity loss not only with face but also with all intimacy aspects argues for a specific disconnection between the ventral visual pathway of face identification and the limbic system involved in emotional and episodic memory contents.

The Influence of Manifest Strabismus and Stereoscopic Vision on Non-Verbal Abilities of Visually Impaired Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gligorovic, Milica; Vucinic, Vesna; Eskirovic, Branka; Jablan, Branka

2011-01-01

This research was conducted in order to examine the influence of manifest strabismus and stereoscopic vision on non-verbal abilities of visually impaired children aged between 7 and 15. The sample included 55 visually impaired children from the 1st to the 6th grade of elementary schools for visually impaired children in Belgrade. RANDOT stereotest…

Hallucinations, Delusions and Paranoia

MedlinePlus

... of objects or events and is sensory in nature. When individuals with Alzheimer’s have a hallucination, they ... frightening, and not all delusions are paranoid in nature. See the doctor. When helping someone who is ...

Psychotic Disorders

MedlinePlus

... main symptoms are delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are false beliefs, such as thinking that someone is plotting against you or that the TV is sending you secret messages. Hallucinations are false perceptions, such as hearing, seeing, or feeling something ...

Auditory hallucinations: A review of the ERC “VOICE” project

PubMed Central

Hugdahl, Kenneth

2015-01-01

In this invited review I provide a selective overview of recent research on brain mechanisms and cognitive processes involved in auditory hallucinations. The review is focused on research carried out in the “VOICE” ERC Advanced Grant Project, funded by the European Research Council, but I also review and discuss the literature in general. Auditory hallucinations are suggested to be perceptual phenomena, with a neuronal origin in the speech perception areas in the temporal lobe. The phenomenology of auditory hallucinations is conceptualized along three domains, or dimensions; a perceptual dimension, experienced as someone speaking to the patient; a cognitive dimension, experienced as an inability to inhibit, or ignore the voices, and an emotional dimension, experienced as the “voices” having primarily a negative, or sinister, emotional tone. I will review cognitive, imaging, and neurochemistry data related to these dimensions, primarily the first two. The reviewed data are summarized in a model that sees auditory hallucinations as initiated from temporal lobe neuronal hyper-activation that draws attentional focus inward, and which is not inhibited due to frontal lobe hypo-activation. It is further suggested that this is maintained through abnormal glutamate and possibly gamma-amino-butyric-acid transmitter mediation, which could point towards new pathways for pharmacological treatment. A final section discusses new methods of acquiring quantitative data on the phenomenology and subjective experience of auditory hallucination that goes beyond standard interview questionnaires, by suggesting an iPhone/iPod app. PMID:26110121

Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation add-on for the treatment of auditory hallucinations: a double-blind study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background About 25% of schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations are refractory to pharmacotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy. We conducted a deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pilot study in order to evaluate the potential clinical benefit of repeated left temporoparietal cortex stimulation in these patients. The results were encouraging, but a sham-controlled study was needed to rule out a placebo effect. Methods A total of 18 schizophrenic patients with refractory auditory hallucinations were recruited, from Beer Yaakov MHC and other hospitals outpatient populations. Patients received 10 daily treatment sessions with low-frequency (1 Hz for 10 min) deep TMS applied over the left temporoparietal cortex, using the H1 coil at the intensity of 110% of the motor threshold. Procedure was either real or sham according to patient randomization. Patients were evaluated via the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale, Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms-Negative Symptoms, Clinical Global Impressions, and Quality of Life Questionnaire. Results In all, 10 patients completed the treatment (10 TMS sessions). Auditory hallucination scores of both groups improved; however, there was no statistical difference in any of the scales between the active and the sham treated groups. Conclusions Low-frequency deep TMS to the left temporoparietal cortex using the protocol mentioned above has no statistically significant effect on auditory hallucinations or the other clinical scales measured in schizophrenic patients. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00564096. PMID:22559192

Poisoning by hallucinogenic mushroom hikageshibiretake (Psilocybe argentipes K. Yokoyama) indigenous to Japan.

PubMed

Musha, M; Ishii, A; Tanaka, F; Kusano, G

1986-01-01

Five cases of poisoning by indigenous mushroom Hikageshibiretake (Psilocybe argentipes) are reported. As this mushroom contains psilocybin, in general, clinical features were similar to those seen by pure psilocybin. Acute toxic stuporous state with complete amnesia in the culminating period occurred in one case, psychedelic state with dreamy consciousness in one case and psychotic adverse reactions with vivid visual hallucinations with consciousness in three cases. There were accompanied with anxiety and panic reactions to subjective experiences. Though these toxic effects were usually short-lived, for management of such patients it is important to recognize that horrible emotional reactions and other harmful behavioral problems can also occur.

Parkinson Disease and Dementia.

PubMed

Garcia-Ptacek, Sara; Kramberger, Milica G

2016-09-01

Dementia is a frequent complication of Parkinson disease (PD) with a yearly incidence of around 10% of patients with PD. Lewy body pathology is the most important factor in the development of Parkinson disease dementia (PDD) and there is evidence for a synergistic effect with β-amyloid. The clinical phenotype in PDD extends beyond the dysexecutive syndrome that is often present in early PD and encompasses deficits in recognition memory, attention, and visual perception. Sleep disturbances, hallucinations, neuroleptic sensitivity, and fluctuations are often present. This review provides an update on current knowledge of PDD including aspects of epidemiology, pathology, clinical presentation, management, and prognosis. © The Author(s) 2016.

Perception, Cognition, and Visualization.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnheim, Rudolf

1991-01-01

Described are how pictures can combine aspects of naturalistic representation with more formal shapes to enhance cognitive understanding. These "diagrammatic" shapes derive from geometrical elementary and thereby bestow visual concreteness to concepts conveyed by the pictures. Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings are used as examples…

Route Descriptions by Visually Impaired and Sighted Children from Memory and from Maps.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Rachel; Ungar, Simon; Blades, Mark

1998-01-01

This study evaluated descriptions, either from memory or by using a map (print or tactile), of 12 visually impaired and 12 sighted elementary grade children of two routes around their schools. Descriptions from maps were generally poorer than those from memory. Qualitative differences were also found between descriptions of visually impaired and…

Viewfinders: A Visual Environmental Literacy Curriculum. Elementary Unit: Exploring Community Appearance and the Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn Foundation, Warwick, RI.

Recognizing that community growth and change are inevitable, Viewfinders' goals are as follows: to introduce students and teachers to the concept of the visual environment; enhance an understanding of the interrelationship between the built and natural environment; create an awareness that the visual environment affects the economy and quality of…

Auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Blom, Jan Dirk

2015-01-01

Auditory hallucinations constitute a phenomenologically rich group of endogenously mediated percepts which are associated with psychiatric, neurologic, otologic, and other medical conditions, but which are also experienced by 10-15% of all healthy individuals in the general population. The group of phenomena is probably best known for its verbal auditory subtype, but it also includes musical hallucinations, echo of reading, exploding-head syndrome, and many other types. The subgroup of verbal auditory hallucinations has been studied extensively with the aid of neuroimaging techniques, and from those studies emerges an outline of a functional as well as a structural network of widely distributed brain areas involved in their mediation. The present chapter provides an overview of the various types of auditory hallucination described in the literature, summarizes our current knowledge of the auditory networks involved in their mediation, and draws on ideas from the philosophy of science and network science to reconceptualize the auditory hallucinatory experience, and point out directions for future research into its neurobiologic substrates. In addition, it provides an overview of known associations with various clinical conditions and of the existing evidence for pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Community Support for Visual Arts Programs: Artist-in-Residence in a K-6 Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobson, Monica Kuhlman

2011-01-01

A sustainable plan for arts education is not allocated in the operating costs of many elementary school districts. Arts education is becoming expendable, as budgets become tighter and emphasis is placed on test scores in accountable subject areas. High stakes testing, pre-identified supposed outcomes, and public concern about school productivity…

Effects of Translation Methods in Imported Instructional Video Programs on Taiwan Fourth Graders' Memory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyan, Nay-ching Nancy; Hu, Yi-chain

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of various translation methods used in imported instructional video programs on Taiwan elementary school students' visual and verbal memory. Following pretesting, 128 fourth grade students from an urban public elementary school in northern Taiwan participated. The students in 4 experimental…

Shifting from Fear to Self-Confidence: Body Mapping as a Transformative Tool in Music Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Shelley M.

2015-01-01

Fear and lack of self-confidence toward music teaching are frequently experienced by many Bachelor of Education teacher candidates when they imagine themselves as future elementary general music teachers. Integrating visual art body mapping in elementary music methods fosters a unique opportunity to identify and interrogate musical experience.…

Neurofeedback-Based Enhancement of Single-Trial Auditory Evoked Potentials: Treatment of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Rieger, Kathryn; Rarra, Marie-Helene; Diaz Hernandez, Laura; Hubl, Daniela; Koenig, Thomas

2018-03-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations depend on a broad neurobiological network ranging from the auditory system to language as well as memory-related processes. As part of this, the auditory N100 event-related potential (ERP) component is attenuated in patients with schizophrenia, with stronger attenuation occurring during auditory verbal hallucinations. Changes in the N100 component assumingly reflect disturbed responsiveness of the auditory system toward external stimuli in schizophrenia. With this premise, we investigated the therapeutic utility of neurofeedback training to modulate the auditory-evoked N100 component in patients with schizophrenia and associated auditory verbal hallucinations. Ten patients completed electroencephalography neurofeedback training for modulation of N100 (treatment condition) or another unrelated component, P200 (control condition). On a behavioral level, only the control group showed a tendency for symptom improvement in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score in a pre-/postcomparison ( t (4) = 2.71, P = .054); however, no significant differences were found in specific hallucination related symptoms ( t (7) = -0.53, P = .62). There was no significant overall effect of neurofeedback training on ERP components in our paradigm; however, we were able to identify different learning patterns, and found a correlation between learning and improvement in auditory verbal hallucination symptoms across training sessions ( r = 0.664, n = 9, P = .05). This effect results, with cautious interpretation due to the small sample size, primarily from the treatment group ( r = 0.97, n = 4, P = .03). In particular, a within-session learning parameter showed utility for predicting symptom improvement with neurofeedback training. In conclusion, patients with schizophrenia and associated auditory verbal hallucinations who exhibit a learning pattern more characterized by within-session aptitude may benefit from electroencephalography neurofeedback. Furthermore, independent of the training group, a significant spatial pre-post difference was found in the event-related component P200 ( P = .04).

A multi-centre, randomised controlled trial of cognitive therapy to prevent harmful compliance with command hallucinations.

PubMed

Birchwood, Max; Peters, Emmanuelle; Tarrier, Nicholas; Dunn, Graham; Lewis, Shon; Wykes, Til; Davies, Linda; Lester, Helen; Michail, Maria

2011-09-30

Command hallucinations are among the most distressing, high risk and treatment resistant symptoms for people with psychosis; however, currently, there are no evidence-based treatment options available for this group. A cognitive therapy grounded in the principles of the Social Rank Theory, is being evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in reducing harmful compliance with command hallucinations. This is a single blind, intention-to-treat, multi-centre, randomized controlled trial comparing Cognitive Therapy for Command Hallucinations + Treatment as Usual with Treatment as Usual alone. Eligible participants have to fulfil the following inclusion criteria: i) ≥16 years; ii) ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophrenia or related disorder; iii) command hallucinations for at least 6 months leading to risk of harm to self or others. Following the completion of baseline assessments, eligible participants will be randomly allocated to either the Cognitive Therapy for Command Hallucinations + Treatment as Usual group or the Treatment as Usual group. Outcome will be assessed at 9 and 18 months post randomization with assessors blind to treatment allocation. The primary outcome is compliance behaviour and secondary outcomes include beliefs about voices' power, distress, psychotic symptoms together with a health economic evaluation. Qualitative interviews with services users will explore the acceptability of Cognitive Therapy for Command Hallucinations. Cognitive behaviour therapy is recommended for people with psychosis; however, its focus and evaluation has primarily revolved around the reduction of psychotic symptoms. In this trial, however, the focus of the cognitive behavioural intervention is on individuals' appraisals, behaviour and affect and not necessarily symptoms; this is also reflected in the outcome measures used. If successful, the results will mark a significant breakthrough in the evidence base for service users and clinicians and will provide a treatment option for this group where none currently exist. The trial will open the way for further breakthrough work with the 'high risk' population of individuals with psychosis, which we would intend to pursue. ISRCTN: ISRCTN62304114.

The relation between emotional awareness and hallucinations and delusions in acute psychiatric inpatients.

PubMed

Serper, Mark; Berenbaum, Howard

2008-04-01

Although negative affect has been frequently implicated in the formation of cognitive and perceptual disturbances ranging from odd perceptions and beliefs to delusions and hallucinations it represents only one of the many aspects of emotional disturbances that may contribute to psychopathology. Surprisingly, no past research has examined in a psychiatric sample whether levels of cognitive-perceptual symptoms are associated with levels of emotional awareness (i.e., attention to emotion and clarity of emotion). In the present study we examined, in an acute psychiatric inpatient sample, the relations between emotional awareness and the severity of delusions and hallucinations. Two groups were included: 34 schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disordered inpatients and 30 mood and substance use disordered inpatients. Patients were assessed on emotional awareness (attention to emotion and emotional clarity) and severity of psychiatric symptomatology. We found that lower levels of emotional clarity were associated with more severe hallucination ratings in both groups of patients. Among schizophrenia spectrum patients, lower levels of attention to emotion were also associated with more severe hallucination ratings. Among mood/substance disorder participants, higher levels of attention to emotion were associated with more severe delusion ratings, whereas the opposite pattern was found among schizophrenia spectrum participants. Consistent with the results of past research using college and community samples, we found that diminished emotional clarity is associated with elevated levels of hallucinations in both mood disorder/substance abuse and schizophrenia spectrum inpatients. We also found that greater attention to emotion was associated with more severe delusions, though only among the mood disorder/substance use group. The present research findings support the role of emotional awareness in hallucination formation and suggest that the factors that contribute to delusions in schizophrenia spectrum patients differ, in part, from the factors that contribute to delusion formation in other groups of individuals.

Benefit and harm of adding ketamine to an opioid in a patient-controlled analgesia device for the control of postoperative pain: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials with trial sequential analyses.

PubMed

Assouline, Benjamin; Tramèr, Martin R; Kreienbühl, Lukas; Elia, Nadia

2016-12-01

Ketamine is often added to opioids in patient-controlled analgesia devices. We tested whether in surgical patients, ketamine added to an opioid patient-controlled analgesia decreased pain intensity by ≥25%, cumulative opioid consumption by ≥30%, the risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting by ≥30%, the risk of respiratory adverse effects by ≥50%, and increased the risk of hallucination not more than 2-fold. In addition, we searched for evidence of dose-responsiveness. Nineteen randomized trials (1349 adults, 104 children) testing different ketamine regimens added to various opioids were identified through searches in databases and bibliographies (to 04.2016). In 9 trials (595 patients), pain intensity at rest at 24 hours was decreased by 32% with ketamine (weighted mean difference -1.1 cm on the 0-10 cm visual analog scale [98% CI, -1.8 to -0.39], P < 0.001). In 7 trials (495 patients), cumulative 24 hours morphine consumption was decreased by 28% with ketamine (weighted mean difference -12.9 mg [-22.4 to -3.35], P = 0.002). In 7 trials (435 patients), the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting was decreased by 44% with ketamine (risk ratio 0.56 [0.40 to 0.78], P < 0.001). There was no evidence of a difference in the incidence of respiratory adverse events (9 trials, 871 patients; risk ratio 0.31 [0.06 to 1.51], P = 0.08) or hallucination (7 trials, 690 patients; odds ratio 1.16 [0.47 to 2.79], P = 0.70). Trial sequential analyses confirmed the significant benefit of ketamine on pain intensity, cumulative morphine consumption, and postoperative nausea and vomiting and its inability to double the risk of hallucination. The available data did not allow us to make a conclusion on respiratory adverse events or to establish dose-responsiveness.

Case study: a young male with auditory hallucinations in paranoid schizophrenia.

PubMed

Kotowski, Abigail

2012-02-01

The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate use of the nursing process and the standardized nursing languages of NANDA International (NANDA-I), the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC), and the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) to assist a young male with paranoid schizophrenia to deal with auditory hallucinations. Data were obtained from the experience and expertise of the author and published literature. This case study demonstrates nurses' clinical decision making in providing care for an adolescent with mental illness. This case study provides the pertinent nursing diagnosis, patient outcomes, and nursing interventions for a young male with auditory hallucinations in paranoid schizophrenia. The use of NANDA-I, NOC, and NIC can provide the necessary framework for enhancing and improving the management of care with patients who experience auditory hallucinations in paranoid schizophrenia. © 2011, The Authors. International Journal of Nursing Terminologies and Classifications © 2011, NANDA International.

Quetiapine for hypnogogic musical release hallucinations.

PubMed

David, R R; Fernandez, H H

2000-01-01

Musical release hallucinations are complex auditory phenomena, affecting mostly the deaf geriatric population, in which individuals hear vocal or instrumental music. Progressive hearing loss from otosclerosis disrupts the usual external sensory stimuli necessary to inhibit the emergence of memory traces within the brain, thereby "releasing" previously recorded perceptions. Responses to conventional antipsychotic agents have been variable and extrapyramidal and other side effects have limited their use. We report the first case of hypnogogic release hallucinations successfully treated with the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine. The patient is an 88-year-old woman with progressive deafness who complained of hearing the piano, drums, or a full orchestra every time she was about to fall asleep. She accused her neighbor of hosting loud parties. Physical, neurologic, and psychiatric examination and work-up were unremarkable. She was treated with low-dose quetiapine affording near total resolution of hallucinations without adverse effects.

Use of media technology to enhance the learning of student nurses in regards to auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Mawson, Kerry

2014-04-01

The aim of this study was to determine if simulation aided by media technology contributes towards an increase in knowledge, empathy, and a change in attitudes in regards to auditory hallucinations for nursing students. A convenience sample of 60 second-year undergraduate nursing students from an Australian university was invited to be part of the study. A pre-post-test design was used, with data analysed using a paired samples t-test to identify pre- and post-changes on nursing students' scores on knowledge of auditory hallucinations. Nine of the 11 questions reported statistically-significant results. The remaining two questions highlighted knowledge embedded within the curriculum, with therapeutic communication being the core work of mental health nursing. The implications for practice are that simulation aided by media technology increases the knowledge of students in regards to auditory hallucinations. © 2013 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Assessing handwriting intervention effectiveness in elementary school students: a two-group controlled study.

PubMed

Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Roston, Karen Laurie; Sheu, Ching-Fan; Hinojosa, Jim

2013-01-01

This study examined the effectiveness of two approaches used in elementary schools to improve children's handwriting. Participants were 72 New York City public school students from the first and second grades. A nonequivalent pretest-posttest group design was used in which students engaged in handwriting activities using two approaches: intensive handwriting practice and visual-perceptual-motor activities. Handwriting speed, legibility, and visual-motor skills were examined after a 12-wk Handwriting Club using multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that students in the intensive handwriting practice group demonstrated significant improvements in handwriting legibility compared with students in the visual-perceptual-motor activity group. No significant effects in handwriting speed and visual-motor skills were found between the students in intensive handwriting practice group and the students in visual-perceptual-motor activities group. The Handwriting Club model is a natural intervention that fits easily into existing school curriculums and can be an effective short-term intervention (response to intervention Tier II). Copyright © 2013 by the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.

Tuning in to the Voices: A Multisite fMRI Study of Auditory Hallucinations

PubMed Central

Ford, Judith M.; Roach, Brian J.; Jorgensen, Kasper W.; Turner, Jessica A.; Brown, Gregory G.; Notestine, Randy; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda; Greve, Douglas; Wible, Cynthia; Lauriello, John; Belger, Aysenil; Mueller, Bryon A.; Calhoun, Vincent; Preda, Adrian; Keator, David; O'Leary, Daniel S.; Lim, Kelvin O.; Glover, Gary; Potkin, Steven G.; Mathalon, Daniel H.

2009-01-01

Introduction: Auditory hallucinations or voices are experienced by 75% of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. We presumed that auditory cortex of schizophrenia patients who experience hallucinations is tonically “tuned” to internal auditory channels, at the cost of processing external sounds, both speech and nonspeech. Accordingly, we predicted that patients who hallucinate would show less auditory cortical activation to external acoustic stimuli than patients who did not. Methods: At 9 Functional Imaging Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN) sites, whole-brain images from 106 patients and 111 healthy comparison subjects were collected while subjects performed an auditory target detection task. Data were processed with the FBIRN processing stream. A region of interest analysis extracted activation values from primary (BA41) and secondary auditory cortex (BA42), auditory association cortex (BA22), and middle temporal gyrus (BA21). Patients were sorted into hallucinators (n = 66) and nonhallucinators (n = 40) based on symptom ratings done during the previous week. Results: Hallucinators had less activation to probe tones in left primary auditory cortex (BA41) than nonhallucinators. This effect was not seen on the right. Discussion: Although “voices” are the anticipated sensory experience, it appears that even primary auditory cortex is “turned on” and “tuned in” to process internal acoustic information at the cost of processing external sounds. Although this study was not designed to probe cortical competition for auditory resources, we were able to take advantage of the data and find significant effects, perhaps because of the power afforded by such a large sample. PMID:18987102

Long-range synchrony of gamma oscillations and auditory hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Mulert, C.; Kirsch; Pascual-Marqui, Roberto; McCarley, Robert W.; Spencer, Kevin M.

2010-01-01

Phase locking in the gamma-band range has been shown to be diminished in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, there have been reports of positive correlations between phase locking in the gamma-band range and positive symptoms, especially hallucinations. The aim of the present study was to use a new methodological approach in order to investigate gamma-band phase synchronization between the left and right auditory cortex in patients with schizophrenia and its relationship to auditory hallucinations. Subjects were 18 patients with chronic schizophrenia (SZ) and 16 healthy control (HC) subjects. Auditory hallucination symptom scores were obtained using the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms. Stimuli were 40-Hz binaural click trains. The generators of the 40 Hz-ASSR were localized using eLORETA and based on the computed intracranial signals lagged interhemispheric phase locking between primary and secondary auditory cortices was analyzed. Current source density of the 40 ASSR response was significantly diminished in SZ in comparison to HC in the right superior and middle temporal gyrus (p<0.05). Interhemispheric phase locking was reduced in SZ in comparison to HC for the primary auditory cortices (p<0.05) but not in the secondary auditory cortices. A significant positive correlation was found between auditory hallucination symptom scores and phase synchronization between the primary auditory cortices (p<0.05, corrected for multiple testing) but not for the secondary auditory cortices. These results suggest that long-range synchrony of gamma oscillations is disturbed in schizophrenia and that this deficit is related to clinical symptoms such as auditory hallucinations. PMID:20713096

Emotional self-other voice processing in schizophrenia and its relationship with hallucinations: ERP evidence.

PubMed

Pinheiro, Ana P; Rezaii, Neguine; Rauber, Andréia; Nestor, Paul G; Spencer, Kevin M; Niznikiewicz, Margaret

2017-09-01

Abnormalities in self-other voice processing have been observed in schizophrenia, and may underlie the experience of hallucinations. More recent studies demonstrated that these impairments are enhanced for speech stimuli with negative content. Nonetheless, few studies probed the temporal dynamics of self versus nonself speech processing in schizophrenia and, particularly, the impact of semantic valence on self-other voice discrimination. In the current study, we examined these questions, and additionally probed whether impairments in these processes are associated with the experience of hallucinations. Fifteen schizophrenia patients and 16 healthy controls listened to 420 prerecorded adjectives differing in voice identity (self-generated [SGS] versus nonself speech [NSS]) and semantic valence (neutral, positive, and negative), while EEG data were recorded. The N1, P2, and late positive potential (LPP) ERP components were analyzed. ERP results revealed group differences in the interaction between voice identity and valence in the P2 and LPP components. Specifically, LPP amplitude was reduced in patients compared with healthy subjects for SGS and NSS with negative content. Further, auditory hallucinations severity was significantly predicted by LPP amplitude: the higher the SAPS "voices conversing" score, the larger the difference in LPP amplitude between negative and positive NSS. The absence of group differences in the N1 suggests that self-other voice processing abnormalities in schizophrenia are not primarily driven by disrupted sensory processing of voice acoustic information. The association between LPP amplitude and hallucination severity suggests that auditory hallucinations are associated with enhanced sustained attention to negative cues conveyed by a nonself voice. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Disturbances of Agency and Ownership in Schizophrenia: An Auditory Verbal Event Related Potentials Study.

PubMed

Bühler, Tim; Kindler, Jochen; Schneider, Rahel C; Strik, Werner; Dierks, Thomas; Hubl, Daniela; Koenig, Thomas

2016-09-01

A 'sense of self' is essentially the ability to distinguish between self-generated and external stimuli. It consists of at least two very basic senses: a sense of agency and a sense of ownership. Disturbances seem to provide a basic deficit in many psychiatric diseases. The aim of our study was to manipulate those qualities separately in 28 patients with schizophrenia (14 auditory hallucinators and 14 non-hallucinators) and 28 healthy controls (HC) and to investigate the effects on the topographies and the power of the event-related potential (ERP). We performed a 76-channel EEG while the participants performed the task as in our previous paper. We computed ERPs and difference maps for the conditions and compared the amount of agency and ownership between the HC and the patients. Furthermore, we compared the global field power and the topographies of these effects. Our data showed effects of agency and ownership in the healthy controls and the hallucinator group and to a lesser degree in the non-hallucinator group. We found a reduction of the N100 during the presence of agency, and a bilateral temporal negativity related to the presence of ownership. For the agency effects, we found significant differences between HC and the patients. Contrary to the expectations, our findings were more pronounced in non-hallucinators, suggesting a more profoundly disturbed sense of agency compared to hallucinators. A contemporary increase of global field power in both patient groups indicates a compensatory recruitment of other mechanisms not normally associated with the processing of agency and ownership.

Parkinson's disease and narcolepsy-like symptoms.

PubMed

Ylikoski, Ari; Martikainen, Kirsti; Sarkanen, Tomi; Partinen, Markku

2015-04-01

Various sleep-related problems, for example, insomnia and symptoms of rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD), are common in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We studied the prevalence of symptoms of narcolepsy (NARC), hallucinations, and RBD and their association with other symptoms. Altogether, 1447 randomly selected patients with PD, aged 43-89 years, participated in a questionnaire study. A structured questionnaire with 207 items was based on the Basic Nordic Sleep Questionnaire. Questions on demographics, PD, RBD, and other issues were included. The response rate was 59.0%; of these patients, 73% had answered to all questions that were used in the analyses (N = 623). The occurrence of suspected narcolepsy (Ullanlinna Narcolepsy Scale ≥ 14 and Epworth Sleepiness Scale ≥ 11) was observed in 9.3% of the subjects (PD with NARC), RBD (REM Sleep Behavior Disorder Screening Questionnaire ≥ 6) in 39.2% of all patients with PD, and in 62.1% of those with PD and NARC. In patients with PD, hallucinations before going to bed in the evening occurred in 5.8%, hypnagogic hallucinations in 4.0%, hallucinations during night 8.3%, and hypnopompic hallucinations in 3.2%. Cataplexy symptoms occurred in 43.1% of subjects with PD and NARC. In a logistic regression analysis, PD with NARC was associated with RBD, all types of hallucinations, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, insomnia, and intense dreaming also when adjusted for age, sex, disease duration, and levodopa. Narcolepsy-like symptoms may be present in patients with PD. Symptoms of RBD were associated with symptoms of narcolepsy including symptoms of cataplexy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[The Effects of Auditory Hallucination Simulation on Empathy, Knowledge, Social Distance, and Attitudes Toward Patients With Mental Illness Among Undergraduate Students: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis].

PubMed

Lee, Ming-Feng; Lin, Ching-Lan Esther

2017-10-01

The negative attitudes of the general public toward mental illness frequently influence the integration of mental illness patients into the community. Auditory hallucination simulation may be considered as a creative teaching strategy to improve the attitudes of learners toward mental illness. However, the empirical effects of auditory hallucination simulation to change the negative attitudes toward mental illness remains uncertain. To compare and analyze, using a systematic review and meta-analysis, the effectiveness of auditory hallucination simulation in improving empathy, knowledge, social distance, and attitudes toward mental illness in undergraduates. A search using the keywords "auditory hallucination" and "simulation" and the 4 outcome indicators of empathy, knowledge, social distance, and attitudes toward mental illness was conducted to identify related articles published between 2008 and 2016 in 6 Chinese and English electronic databases, including Cochrane Library, EBSCO-CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Airiti Library. Research quality was appraised using the Modified Jadad Scale (MJS), the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Level of Evidence (OCEBM LoE), and the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Eleven studies were recruited, and 7 studies with sufficient data were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis showed that hallucination simulation significantly improved the empathy and knowledge of participants, with respective effect sizes of 0.63 (95% CI [0.21, 1.05]) and 0.69 (95% CI [0.43-0.94]). However, this intervention also increased social distance, with an effect size of 0.60 (95% CI [0.01, 1.19]), and did not change attitudes toward mental illness significantly, with an effect size of 0.33 (95% CI [-0.11, 0.77]). Auditory hallucination simulation is an effective teaching strategy for improving the empathy and knowledge of undergraduates. However, related evidence for the effects of social distance and attitudes toward mental illness need to be further strengthened. Most of the extant research on this subject was conducted in the United States and Australia and was of moderate quality. Future studies should use sufficiently rigorous research designs to explore the safety issues and the effectiveness of the auditory hallucination simulation intervention in different countries and ethnic populations.

Visual Literacy and School Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McPherson, Keith

2004-01-01

Not convinced that teachers and teacher-librarians were actively suppressing their students' visual literacy, the author decided to conduct informal interviews with four local teacher-librarians (three elementary and one secondary) attending classes at the university where he instructs. All four indicated that though their libraries were rich…

Placing Elementary Music Education: A Case Study of a Canadian Rural Music Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brook, Julia

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research study was to explore how one rural elementary music programme deepens students' sense of place. Place-based educational research has explored the implementation of such programme in the areas of social studies and visual arts, however, more research is needed to examine how music education can deepen students' sense of…

This Land Was Made for You and Me: Teaching for Economic Justice in Upper Elementary and Middle School Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucey, Thomas A.; Laney, James D.

2009-01-01

Teaching for economic justice can be challenging for upper elementary and middle school teachers. Many teachers may feel uncomfortable with the subject matter and thus avoid addressing sensitive social issues related to economic/financial inequities. This article describes how selected songs and works of visual art, expressions of social protest…

Seamless Tracing of Human Behavior Using Complementary Wearable and House-Embedded Sensors

PubMed Central

Augustyniak, Piotr; Smoleń, Magdalena; Mikrut, Zbigniew; Kańtoch, Eliasz

2014-01-01

This paper presents a multimodal system for seamless surveillance of elderly people in their living environment. The system uses simultaneously a wearable sensor network for each individual and premise-embedded sensors specific for each environment. The paper demonstrates the benefits of using complementary information from two types of mobility sensors: visual flow-based image analysis and an accelerometer-based wearable network. The paper provides results for indoor recognition of several elementary poses and outdoor recognition of complex movements. Instead of complete system description, particular attention was drawn to a polar histogram-based method of visual pose recognition, complementary use and synchronization of the data from wearable and premise-embedded networks and an automatic danger detection algorithm driven by two premise- and subject-related databases. The novelty of our approach also consists in feeding the databases with real-life recordings from the subject, and in using the dynamic time-warping algorithm for measurements of distance between actions represented as elementary poses in behavioral records. The main results of testing our method include: 95.5% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the video system, 96.7% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the accelerometer-based system, 98.9% accuracy of elementary pose recognition by the combined accelerometer and video-based system, and 80% accuracy of complex outdoor activity recognition by the accelerometer-based wearable system. PMID:24787640

How anxiety induces verbal hallucinations

PubMed Central

Ratcliffe, Matthew; Wilkinson, Sam

2016-01-01

Verbal hallucinations are often associated with pronounced feelings of anxiety, and it has also been suggested that anxiety somehow triggers them. In this paper, we offer a phenomenological or ‘personal-level’ account of how it does so. We show how anxious anticipation of one’s own thought contents can generate an experience of their being ‘alien’. It does so by making an experience of thinking more like one of perceiving, resulting in an unfamiliar kind of intentional state. This accounts for a substantial subset of verbal hallucinations, which are experienced as falling within one’s psychological boundaries and lacking in auditory qualities. PMID:26683229

Photogenic partial seizures.

PubMed

Hennessy, M J; Binnie, C D

2000-01-01

To establish the incidence and symptoms of partial seizures in a cohort of patients investigated on account of known sensitivity to intermittent photic stimulation and/or precipitation of seizures by environmental visual stimuli such as television (TV) screens or computer monitors. We report 43 consecutive patients with epilepsy, who had exhibited a significant EEG photoparoxysmal response or who had seizures precipitated by environmental visual stimuli and underwent detailed assessment of their photosensitivity in the EEG laboratory, during which all were questioned concerning their ictal symptoms. All patients were considered on clinical grounds to have an idiopathic epilepsy syndrome. Twenty-eight (65%) patients reported visually precipitated attacks occurring initially with maintained consciousness, in some instances evolving to a period of confusion or to a secondarily generalized seizure. Visual symptoms were most commonly reported and included positive symptoms such as coloured circles or spots, but also blindness and subjective symptoms such as "eyes going funny." Other symptoms described included nonspecific cephalic sensations, deja-vu, auditory hallucinations, nausea, and vomiting. No patient reported any clear spontaneous partial seizures, and there were no grounds for supposing that any had partial epilepsy excepting the ictal phenomenology of some or all of the visually induced attacks. These findings provide clinical support for the physiological studies that indicate that the trigger mechanism for human photosensitivity involves binocularly innervated cells located in the visual cortex. Thus the visual cortex is the seat of the primary epileptogenic process, and the photically triggered discharges and seizures may be regarded as partial with secondary generalization.

Personal, Seasonal Suns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutley, Jane

2010-01-01

This article presents an art project designed for upper-elementary students to (1) imagine visual differences in the sun's appearance during the four seasons; (2) develop ideas for visually translating their personal experiences regarding the seasons to their sun drawings; (3) create four distinctive seasonal suns using colors and imagery to…

Teaching Science through Pictorial Models during Read-Alouds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliveira, Alandeom W.; Rivera, Seema; Glass, Rory; Mastroianni, Michael; Wizner, Francine; Amodeo, Vincent

2013-01-01

This study examines how three elementary teachers refer to pictorial models (photographs, drawings, and cartoons) during science read-alouds. While one teacher used realistic photographs for the purpose of visually verifying facts about crystals, another employed analytical diagrams as heuristic tools to help students visualize complex target…

Perceptual learning in visual search: fast, enduring, but non-specific.

PubMed

Sireteanu, R; Rettenbach, R

1995-07-01

Visual search has been suggested as a tool for isolating visual primitives. Elementary "features" were proposed to involve parallel search, while serial search is necessary for items without a "feature" status, or, in some cases, for conjunctions of "features". In this study, we investigated the role of practice in visual search tasks. We found that, under some circumstances, initially serial tasks can become parallel after a few hundred trials. Learning in visual search is far less specific than learning of visual discriminations and hyperacuity, suggesting that it takes place at another level in the central visual pathway, involving different neural circuits.

Visual Preferences of Young School Children for Paintings from the 20th Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuscevic, Dubravka; Kardum, Goran; Brajcic, Marija

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the differences of young school children in the visual preferences of paintings from the 20th century. The study was conducted at 4 elementary schools around Split, Croatia. A total of 200 children participated in the study, of which 87 were girls and 113 were boys aged 6-10 years. Visual preference testing…

Map It Then Write It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lott, Kimberly; Read, Sylvia

2015-01-01

All writing begins with ideas, but young students often need visual cues to help them organize their thoughts before beginning to write. For this reason, many elementary teachers use graphic organizers or thinking maps to help students visualize patterns and organize their ideas within the different genres of writing. Graphic organizers such as…

The Visual Arts as a Therapeutic Process for Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pergjini, Vesna

This article discusses the use of visual arts activities to help young children cope with separation anxiety and sibling rivalry. Addressed to preschool and elementary school teachers seeking therapeutic classroom activities, the article suggests ways of using children's literature as starting points for drawing activities focused on anxiety…

Tessellating with Logo: Effects on Visual Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knupfer, Nancy Nelson; Clark, Barbara I.

This investigation of the potential of a Logo environment to develop visual literacy skills in elementary school students focused on the recognition of Escher-type geometric constructions by second and sixth grade students. Four research questions were addressed: (1) whether students can use higher-order and creative thinking skills in using…

The Art of Engaging Young Men as Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franco, Mary J.; Unrath, Kathleen

2015-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how purposeful and substantive visual art experiences might support the literacy learning of elementary-aged boys. The overarching research question that guided this exploration was: What happens when Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) art discussions and related artmaking are infused into a…

Operational Risk Management of Fatigue Effects

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-05-01

response time (RT) and reduced response accuracy 2f. Impaired manual control 2g. Vigilance impairment 2h. Narrowed attention 2i. Hypnagogic hallucinations...exclusion of other essential parameters). Important for both command and control teams and for aircrews. 2i. Hypnagogic hallucinations. Dreams that occur

Revisiting Arieti's “Listening Attitude” and Hallucinated Voices

PubMed Central

Hoffman, Ralph E.

2010-01-01

Silvano Arieti proposed that auditory/verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are triggered by momentary states of heightened auditory attention that he identified as a “listening attitude.” Studies and clinical observations by our group support this view. Patients enrolled in our repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation trials, if experiencing a significant curtailment of these hallucinations, often report an episodic sense that their voices are still occurring even if they no longer can be heard, suggesting episodic states of heightened auditory expectancy. Moreover, a functional magnetic resonance study reported by our group detected activation in the left insula prior to hallucination events. This finding is suggestive of activation in the same region detected in healthy subjects during “auditory search” in response to ambiguous sounds when anticipating meaningful speech. AVHs often are experienced with a deep emotional salience and may occur in the context of dramatic social isolation that together could reinforce heightened auditory expectancy. These findings and clinical observations suggest that Arieti's original formulation deserves further study. PMID:20363873

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Compared with Non-specialized Therapy for Alleviating the Effect of Auditory Hallucinations in People with Reoccurring Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kennedy, Laura; Xyrichis, Andreas

2017-02-01

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is recommended as a psychological intervention for those diagnosed with schizophrenia. The prevalence of auditory hallucinations is high among this group, many of whom are cared for by community mental health teams that may not have easy access to qualified CBT practitioners. This systematic review examined the evidence for the superiority of CBT compared to non-specialized therapy in alleviating auditory hallucinations in community patients with schizophrenia. Two RCTs met the inclusion criteria totaling 105 participants. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)-Positive Scale was the outcome measure examined. A meta-analysis revealed a pooled mean difference of -0.86 [95 % CI -2.38, 0.65] in favor of CBT, although this did not reach statistical significance. This systematic review concluded there is no clinically significant difference in the reduction of positive symptoms of schizophrenia when treated by CBT compared to a non-specialized therapy for adults experiencing auditory hallucinations.

Cognitive insight and objective quality of life in people with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Rathee, Ruchika; Luhrmann, Tanya M; Bhatia, Triptish; Deshpande, Smita N

2018-01-01

Poor cognitive insight in schizophrenia has been linked to delusions, hallucinations, and negative symptoms as well as to depressive/anxiety symptoms. Its impact on quality of life has been less studied, especially in schizophrenia subjects with ongoing auditory hallucinations. The Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) and the Quality of Life Scale (QLS) were administered to subjects who met DSM IV criteria for schizophrenia after due translation and validation. All subjects reported ongoing auditory hallucinations at recruitment. Mean composite cognitive insight scores from participants (N = 60) (2.97 ± 2.649) were in the lower range as compared to published literature. Cognitive insight scores as well as self-reflectiveness subscale scores, but not self-certainty scores, correlated significantly with the QLS scores p < 0.001. Results suggest that better cognitive insight, especially self-reflectiveness, may be linked to better quality of life. Self-reflectiveness could be a useful construct to address in psychotherapy to improve rehabilitation. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Factors associated with compliance and resistance to command hallucinations.

PubMed

Mackinnon, Andrew; Copolov, David L; Trauer, Tom

2004-05-01

Command hallucinations (CHs) are hallucinations that direct the patient to perform an action. Beyond issues related to the danger that some CHs may pose, comparatively little is known about the broader clinical context of CHs. To investigate this, 199 patients were interviewed using the Mental Health Research Institute Unusual Perceptions Scale. More than two thirds of the sample reported hearing CHs. A quarter of these patients felt unable to resist them. Patients with CHs reported their voices more negatively than those who did not hear commands. More of those unable to resist CHs rated their hallucinations as intrusive, they had fewer coping strategies than those able to resist, and they were prescribed higher dosages of medication. CHs are associated with a greater degree of adverse hallucinatory and illness experience. Patients who experience CHs may have a more malignant form of the underlying disorder. Thus, CHs warrant special therapeutic attention for reasons beyond any harm that their commands pose to themselves or others.

Use of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Treatment in Psychiatry

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The potential of noninvasive neurostimulation by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for improving psychiatric disorders has been studied increasingly over the past two decades. This is especially the case for major depression and for auditory-verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia. The present review briefly describes the background of this novel treatment modality and summarizes evidence from clinical trials into the efficacy of rTMS for depression and hallucinations. Evidence for efficacy in depression is stronger than for hallucinations, although a number of studies have reported clinically relevant improvements for hallucinations too. Different stimulation parameters (frequency, duration, location of stimulation) are discussed. There is a paucity of research into other psychiatric disorders, but initial evidence suggests that rTMS may also hold promise for the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. It can be concluded that rTMS induces alterations in neural networks relevant for psychiatric disorders and that more research is needed to elucidate efficacy and underlying mechanisms of action. PMID:24023548

Use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment in psychiatry.

PubMed

Aleman, André

2013-08-01

The potential of noninvasive neurostimulation by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for improving psychiatric disorders has been studied increasingly over the past two decades. This is especially the case for major depression and for auditory-verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia. The present review briefly describes the background of this novel treatment modality and summarizes evidence from clinical trials into the efficacy of rTMS for depression and hallucinations. Evidence for efficacy in depression is stronger than for hallucinations, although a number of studies have reported clinically relevant improvements for hallucinations too. Different stimulation parameters (frequency, duration, location of stimulation) are discussed. There is a paucity of research into other psychiatric disorders, but initial evidence suggests that rTMS may also hold promise for the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. It can be concluded that rTMS induces alterations in neural networks relevant for psychiatric disorders and that more research is needed to elucidate efficacy and underlying mechanisms of action.

Offer versus Serve or Serve Only: Does Service Method Affect Elementary Children's Fruit and Vegetable Consumption?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goggans, Margaret Harbison; Lambert, Laurel; Chang, Yunhee

2011-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of the Offer versus Serve (OVS) provision in the National School Lunch Program would result in a significant difference in fruit and vegetable consumption by fourth and fifth grade elementary students, and in plate waste cost. Methods: Weighed and visual plate waste data…

Sensory, cognitive, and linguistic factors in the early academic performance of elementary school children: The Benton-IU project.

PubMed

Watson, Charles S; Kidd, Gary R; Homer, Douglas G; Connell, Phil J; Lowther, Andrya; Eddins, David A; Krueger, Glenn; Goss, David A; Rainey, Bill B; Gospel, Mary D; Watson, Betty U

2003-01-01

Standardized sensory, perceptual, linguistic, intellectual, and cognitive tests were administered to 470 children, approximately 96% of the students entering the first grade in the four elementary schools of Benton County, Indiana, over a 3-year period (1995--1997). The results of 36 tests and subtests administered to entering first graders were well described by a 4-factor solution. These factors and the tests that loaded most heavily on them were reading-related skills (phonological awareness, letter and word identification); visual cognition (visual perceptual abilities, spatial perception, visual memory); verbal cognition (language development, vocabulary, verbal concepts); and speech processing (the ability to understand speech under difficult listening conditions). A cluster analysis identified 9 groups of children, each with a different profile of scores on the 4 factors. Within these groups, the proportion of students with unsatisfactory reading achievement in the first 2 years of elementary school (as reflected in teacher-assigned grades) varied from 3% to 40%. The profiles of factor scores demonstrated the primary influence of the reading-related skills factor on reading achievement and also on other areas of academic performance. The second strongest predictor of reading and mathematics grades was the visual cognition factor, followed by the verbal cognition factor. The speech processing factor was the weakest predictor of academic achievement, accounting for less than 1% of the variance in reading achievement. This project was a collaborative effort of the Benton Community School Corporation and a multidisciplinary group of investigators from Indiana University.

Relationship between hypnosis and personality trait in participants with high or low hypnotic susceptibility

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yingchun; Wang, Yunke; Shen, Chanchan; Ye, Yingying; Shen, Si; Zhang, Bingren; Wang, Jiawei; Chen, Wei; Wang, Wei

2017-01-01

Background The relationship between normal personality and hypnotic susceptibility is important for understanding mental processing and mental disorders, but it is less consistent in normal people or in patients with a psychiatric disorder. We have hypothesized that the correlation exists but varies in individuals with different levels of hypnotizability. Participants and methods We invited 72 individuals with high (HIGH group) and 47 individuals with low (LOW group) hypnotic susceptibilities to undertake tests of NEO-PI-R and the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form C (SHSSC). Results The HIGH group scored significantly higher than the LOW group did on openness to experience and its facet openness to feelings. In the LOW group, SHSSC total was positively predicted by openness to ideas; age regression was positively predicted by openness to experience and negatively predicted by extraversion; anosmia to ammonia was negatively predicted by agreeableness; and negative visual hallucination was positively predicted by openness to experience. In the HIGH group, hallucinated voice was positively predicted by openness to experience and negatively predicted by agreeableness, and posthypnotic amnesia was positively predicted by extraversion and negatively predicted by openness to experience. Conclusion The associations between normal personality traits and hypnotic susceptibility items were weak and different in the two groups, which imply that managing mental or somatoform disorders might be through adjusting hypnotizability and mobilizing personality functions. PMID:28435270

Comparing the experience of voices in borderline personality disorder with the experience of voices in a psychotic disorder: A systematic review.

PubMed

Merrett, Zalie; Rossell, Susan L; Castle, David J

2016-07-01

In clinical settings, there is substantial evidence both clinically and empirically to suggest that approximately 50% of individuals with borderline personality disorder experience auditory verbal hallucinations. However, there is limited research investigating the phenomenology of these voices. The aim of this study was to review and compare our current understanding of auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder with auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with a psychotic disorder, to critically analyse existing studies investigating auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder and to identify gaps in current knowledge, which will help direct future research. The literature was searched using the electronic database Scopus, PubMed and MEDLINE. Relevant studies were included if they were written in English, were empirical studies specifically addressing auditory verbal hallucinations and borderline personality disorder, were peer reviewed, used only adult humans and sample comprising borderline personality disorder as the primary diagnosis, and included a comparison group with a primary psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia. Our search strategy revealed a total of 16 articles investigating the phenomenology of auditory verbal hallucinations in borderline personality disorder. Some studies provided evidence to suggest that the voice experiences in borderline personality disorder are similar to those experienced by people with schizophrenia, for example, occur inside the head, and often involved persecutory voices. Other studies revealed some differences between schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder voice experiences, with the borderline personality disorder voices sounding more derogatory and self-critical in nature and the voice-hearers' response to the voices were more emotionally resistive. Furthermore, in one study, the schizophrenia group's voices resulted in more disruption in daily functioning. These studies are, however, limited in number and do not provide definitive evidence of these differences. The limited research examining auditory verbal hallucinations experiences in borderline personality disorder poses a significant diagnostic and treatment challenge. A deeper understanding of the precise phenomenological characteristics will help us in terms of diagnostic distinction as well as inform treatments. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2016.

Feasibility and Clinical Utility of High-definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in the Treatment of Persistent Hallucinations in Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Bose, A; Shivakumar, V; Chhabra, H; Parlikar, R; Sreeraj, V S; Dinakaran, D; Narayanaswamy, J C; Venkatasubramanian, G

2017-12-01

Persistent auditory verbal hallucination is a clinically significant problem in schizophrenia. Recent studies suggest a promising role for add-on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in treatment. An optimised version of tDCS, namely high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS), uses smaller electrodes arranged in a 4x1 ring configuration and may offer more focal and predictable neuromodulation than conventional tDCS. This case report illustrates the feasibility and clinical utility of add-on HD-tDCS over the left temporoparietal junction in a 4x1 ring configuration to treat persistent auditory verbal hallucination in schizophrenia.

The Computerized Perceptual Motor Skills Assessment: A new visual perceptual motor skills evaluation tool for children in early elementary grades.

PubMed

Howe, Tsu-Hsin; Chen, Hao-Ling; Lee, Candy Chieh; Chen, Ying-Dar; Wang, Tien-Ni

2017-10-01

Visual perceptual motor skills have been proposed as underlying courses of handwriting difficulties. However, there is no evaluation tool currently available to assess these skills comprehensively and to serve as a sensitive measure. The purpose of this study was to validate the Computerized Perceptual Motor Skills Assessment (CPMSA), a newly developed evaluation tool for children in early elementary grades. Its test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and responsiveness were examined in 43 typically developing children and 26 children with handwriting difficulty. The CPMSA demonstrated excellent reliability across all subtests with intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs)≥0.80. Significant moderate correlations between the domains of the CPMSA and corresponding gold standards including Beery VMI, the TVPS-3, and the eye-hand coordination subtest of the DTVP-2 demonstrated good concurrent validity. In addition, the CPMSA showed evidence of discriminant validity in samples of children with and without handwriting difficulty. This article provides evidence in support of the CPMSA. The CPMSA is a reliable, valid, and promising measure of visual perceptual motor skills for children in early elementary grades. Directions for future study and improvements to the assessment are discussed. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Hallucinations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitfield, C.L.; Dube, S.R.; Felitti, V.J.; Anda, R.F.

2005-01-01

Objective:: Little information is available about the contribution of multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to the likelihood of reporting hallucinations. We used data from the ACE study to assess this relationship. Methods:: We conducted a survey about childhood abuse and household dysfunction while growing up, with questions about health…

Active and placebo transcranial magnetic stimulation effects on external and internal auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia.

PubMed

Paillère-Martinot, M-L; Galinowski, A; Plaze, M; Andoh, J; Bartrés-Faz, D; Bellivier, F; Lefaucheur, J-P; Rivière, D; Gallarda, T; Martinot, J-L; Artiges, E

2017-03-01

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left temporo-parietal region has been proposed as a treatment for resistant auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), but which patients are more likely to benefit from rTMS is still unclear. This study sought to assess the effects of rTMS on AVH, with a focus on hallucination phenomenology. Twenty-seven patients with schizophrenia and medication-resistant AVH participated to a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, add-on rTMS study. The stimulation targeted a language-perception area individually determined using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a language recognition task. AVH were assessed using the hallucination subscale of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). The spatial location of AVH was assessed using the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales. A significant improvement in SAPS hallucination subscale score was observed in both actively treated and placebo-treated groups with no difference between both modalities. Patients with external AVH were significantly more improved than patients with internal AVH, with both modalities. A marked placebo effect of rTMS was observed in patients with resistant AVH. Patients with prominent external AVH may be more likely to benefit from both active and placebo interventions. Cortical effects related to non-magnetic stimulation of the auditory cortex are suggested. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The associations between multisensory temporal processing and symptoms of schizophrenia.

PubMed

Stevenson, Ryan A; Park, Sohee; Cochran, Channing; McIntosh, Lindsey G; Noel, Jean-Paul; Barense, Morgan D; Ferber, Susanne; Wallace, Mark T

2017-01-01

Recent neurobiological accounts of schizophrenia have included an emphasis on changes in sensory processing. These sensory and perceptual deficits can have a cascading effect onto higher-level cognitive processes and clinical symptoms. One form of sensory dysfunction that has been consistently observed in schizophrenia is altered temporal processing. In this study, we investigated temporal processing within and across the auditory and visual modalities in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) and age-matched healthy controls. Individuals with SCZ showed auditory and visual temporal processing abnormalities, as well as multisensory temporal processing dysfunction that extended beyond that attributable to unisensory processing dysfunction. Most importantly, these multisensory temporal deficits were associated with the severity of hallucinations. This link between atypical multisensory temporal perception and clinical symptomatology suggests that clinical symptoms of schizophrenia may be at least partly a result of cascading effects from (multi)sensory disturbances. These results are discussed in terms of underlying neural bases and the possible implications for remediation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cultivating Empathy for the Mentally Ill Using Simulated Auditory Hallucinations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bunn, William; Terpstra, Jan

2009-01-01

Objective: The authors address the issue of cultivating medical students' empathy for the mentally ill by examining medical student empathy pre- and postsimulated auditory hallucination experience. Methods: At the University of Utah, 150 medical students participated in this study during their 6-week psychiatry rotation. The Jefferson Scale of…

Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Auditory Hallucinations: A Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinkham, Amy E.; Gloege, Andrew T.; Flanagan, Steven; Penn, David L.

2004-01-01

In this article, we describe a pilot study that investigated the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for auditory hallucinations. Eleven inpatients with either chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder participated in 2 CBT groups of differing treatment duration (i.e., 7 versus 20 sessions). The results showed that…

Attention Training with Auditory Hallucinations: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valmaggia, Lucia R.; Bouman, Theo K.; Schuurman, Laura

2007-01-01

The case presented in this paper illustrates how Attention Training (ATT; [Wells, A. (1990). "Panic disorder in association with relaxation induced anxiety: An attentional training approach to treatment." "Behavior Therapy," 21, 273-280.]) can be applied in an outpatient setting in the treatment of auditory hallucinations. The 25-year-old male…

Alive with the sound of music: a case series on patients presenting with musical hallucinations in a general hospital.

PubMed

Kinson, Rochelle Melina; Lim, Wen Phei; Rahman, Habeebul

2015-01-01

Musical hallucinations are a rare phenomenon that renders appropriate identification and treatment a challenge. This case series describes three women who presented with hearing complex, familiar melodies in the absence of external stimuli on a background of hearing impairment.

The Impact of Integrating Visuals in an Elementary Creative Writing Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Margaret; And Others

Most children's books are filled with pictures, yet when schools design curricula to teach writing, they often ignore the role of visual images in the writing process. Historically, methods for teaching writing have focused on text. Even relatively recent techniques like brainstorming and story webbing still focus on verbal information. In some…

AMTEC '84 ... A Kaleidoscope of Media. Papers and Workshops (London, Ontario, June 17-20, 1984).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everest, Kenneth, Ed.

This collection includes 16 conference papers and presentations and brief descriptions of 35 workshops and demonstrations. The document contains the following papers: (1) "Visual Literacy in the Elementary Grades" (David J. Bieman); (2) "Inservice Training for Sheridan's Audio Visual Staff" (Dave MacDougall); (3)…

Marine Science Activities for Visually Impaired.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schatz, Dennis; And Others

These marine education materials are based on the approach that students learn best when given a multisensory experience. The activities are intended to develop such experiences for the visually impaired child. Activities are intended to supplement an upper-elementary science curriculum or be the basis of a unit on marine biology. The guide is…

Missouri Annual Blind/Visually Impaired Literacy Study, December 2012

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2012

2012-01-01

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, per Section 162.1136 RSMo, conducts an annual study of the educational status of eligible blind/visually impaired students and reports the findings to the Missouri Legislature on December 1st each year. The information contained in this report pertains to the twelve data elements…

Missouri Annual Blind/Visually Impaired Literacy Study, December 2010

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2010

2010-01-01

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, per Section 162.1136 RSMo, conducts an annual study of the educational status of eligible blind/visually impaired students and reports the findings to the Missouri Legislature on December 1st each year. The information contained in this report pertains to the twelve data elements…

Missouri Annual Blind/Visually Impaired Literacy Study, December 2011

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2011

2011-01-01

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, per Section 162.1136 RSMo, conducts an annual study of the educational status of eligible blind/visually impaired students and reports the findings to the Missouri Legislature on December 1st each year. The information contained in this report pertains to the twelve data elements…

Teaching Oral Hygiene Skills to Elementary Students with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shih, Yeng-Hung; Chang, Chien-Huey Sophie

2005-01-01

This study investigated the effects of a program that taught oral hygiene skills to students with visual impairments using group instruction and individual coaching. The results showed that the program enhanced the oral hygiene skills of the three participants significantly, and its effectiveness lasted for at least two months after the…

Multiple Transient Signals in Human Visual Cortex Associated with an Elementary Decision

PubMed Central

Nolte, Guido

2017-01-01

The cerebral cortex continuously undergoes changes in its state, which are manifested in transient modulations of the cortical power spectrum. Cortical state changes also occur at full wakefulness and during rapid cognitive acts, such as perceptual decisions. Previous studies found a global modulation of beta-band (12–30 Hz) activity in human and monkey visual cortex during an elementary visual decision: reporting the appearance or disappearance of salient visual targets surrounded by a distractor. The previous studies disentangled neither the motor action associated with behavioral report nor other secondary processes, such as arousal, from perceptual decision processing per se. Here, we used magnetoencephalography in humans to pinpoint the factors underlying the beta-band modulation. We found that disappearances of a salient target were associated with beta-band suppression, and target reappearances with beta-band enhancement. This was true for both overt behavioral reports (immediate button presses) and silent counting of the perceptual events. This finding indicates that the beta-band modulation was unrelated to the execution of the motor act associated with a behavioral report of the perceptual decision. Further, changes in pupil-linked arousal, fixational eye movements, or gamma-band responses were not necessary for the beta-band modulation. Together, our results suggest that the beta-band modulation was a top-down signal associated with the process of converting graded perceptual signals into a categorical format underlying flexible behavior. This signal may have been fed back from brain regions involved in decision processing to visual cortex, thus enforcing a “decision-consistent” cortical state. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Elementary visual decisions are associated with a rapid state change in visual cortex, indexed by a modulation of neural activity in the beta-frequency range. Such decisions are also followed by other events that might affect the state of visual cortex, including the motor command associated with the report of the decision, an increase in pupil-linked arousal, fixational eye movements, and fluctuations in bottom-up sensory processing. Here, we ruled out the necessity of these events for the beta-band modulation of visual cortex. We propose that the modulation reflects a decision-related state change, which is induced by the conversion of graded perceptual signals into a categorical format underlying behavior. The resulting decision signal may be fed back to visual cortex. PMID:28495972

An EMG Study of the Lip Muscles during Covert Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rapin, Lucile; Dohen, Marion; Polosan, Mircea; Perrier, Pascal; Loevenbruck, Hélène

2013-01-01

Purpose: "Auditory verbal hallucinations" (AVHs) are speech perceptions in the absence of external stimulation. According to an influential theoretical account of AVHs in schizophrenia, a deficit in inner-speech monitoring may cause the patients' verbal thoughts to be perceived as external voices. The account is based on a…

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Command Hallucinations and Intellectual Disability: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrowcliff, Alastair L.

2008-01-01

Background: There is a paucity of literature detailing cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for psychosis in people with intellectual disability. Of the available literature, only two case studies involve people with command hallucinations and these do not address specific issues of intervention indicated in the wider literature for this type of…

Associations between specific psychotic symptoms and specific childhood adversities are mediated by attachment styles: an analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey.

PubMed

Sitko, Katarzyna; Bentall, Richard P; Shevlin, Mark; O'Sullivan, Noreen; Sellwood, William

2014-07-30

Accumulated evidence over the past decade consistently demonstrates a relationship between childhood adversity and psychosis in adulthood. There is some evidence of specific associations between childhood sexual abuse and hallucinations, and between insecure attachment and paranoia. Data from the National Comorbidity Survey were used in assessing whether current attachment styles influenced the association between adverse childhood experiences and psychotic symptoms in adulthood. Hallucinations and paranoid beliefs were differentially associated with sexual abuse (rape and sexual molestation) and neglect, respectively. Sexual abuse and neglect were also associated with depression. The relationship between neglect and paranoid beliefs was fully mediated via anxious and avoidant attachment. The relationship between sexual molestation and hallucinations was independent of attachment style. The relationship between rape and hallucinations was partially mediated via anxious attachment; however this effect was no longer present when depression was included as a mediating variable. The findings highlight the importance of addressing and understanding childhood experiences within the context of current attachment styles in clinical interventions for patients with psychosis. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hallucinations arising in the context of torn attachment, traumatic childhood and tapeworms.

PubMed

Power, Brian; Goossens, Carolyn

2009-06-01

The aim of this paper is to describe the processes underlying psychotic symptoms in an adolescent who presented to our service at the age of 15 years. A teenage female presented having experienced her early childhood in a war-torn third-world country, during which time her mother died, and she suffered worm infestation, neglect and trauma, before being adopted by a family in a developed country, where she lived for several years prior to relocating to Australia. The presenting complaints included longstanding anxiety, depressive and dissociative symptoms, with subsequent behavioural problems and learning difficulties. More recently, she had developed auditory hallucinations, and the antipsychotic she had been taking was beneficial. An MRI of the brain demonstrated lesions in keeping with healed parasitic disease (neurocysticercosis). The patient's hallucinations are discussed in the context of the relationship between a traumatic childhood and psychosis, and neurocysticercosis. Within months of her presentation, the hallucinations resolved as her step-mother became more available. Her antipsychotic medication is being carefully decreased, and the patient is engaging in psychological therapies to deal with her past trauma and disrupted attachment.

Use of an Auditory Hallucination Simulation to Increase Student Pharmacist Empathy for Patients with Mental Illness

PubMed Central

Eukel, Heidi N.; Frenzel, Jeanne E.; Werremeyer, Amy; McDaniel, Becky

2016-01-01

Objective. To increase student pharmacist empathy through the use of an auditory hallucination simulation. Design. Third-year professional pharmacy students independently completed seven stations requiring skills such as communication, following directions, reading comprehension, and cognition while listening to an audio recording simulating what one experiencing auditory hallucinations may hear. Following the simulation, students participated in a faculty-led debriefing and completed a written reflection. Assessment. The Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale was completed by each student before and after the simulation to measure changes in empathy. The written reflections were read and qualitatively analyzed. Empathy scores increased significantly after the simulation. Qualitative analysis showed students most frequently reported feeling distracted and frustrated. All student participants recommended the simulation be offered to other student pharmacists, and 99% felt the simulation would impact their future careers. Conclusions. With approximately 10 million adult Americans suffering from serious mental illness, it is important for pharmacy educators to prepare students to provide adequate patient care to this population. This auditory hallucination simulation increased student pharmacist empathy for patients with mental illness. PMID:27899838

The role of the primary auditory cortex in the neural mechanism of auditory verbal hallucinations

PubMed Central

Kompus, Kristiina; Falkenberg, Liv E.; Bless, Josef J.; Johnsen, Erik; Kroken, Rune A.; Kråkvik, Bodil; Larøi, Frank; Løberg, Else-Marie; Vedul-Kjelsås, Einar; Westerhausen, René; Hugdahl, Kenneth

2013-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are a subjective experience of “hearing voices” in the absence of corresponding physical stimulation in the environment. The most remarkable feature of AVHs is their perceptual quality, that is, the experience is subjectively often as vivid as hearing an actual voice, as opposed to mental imagery or auditory memories. This has lead to propositions that dysregulation of the primary auditory cortex (PAC) is a crucial component of the neural mechanism of AVHs. One possible mechanism by which the PAC could give rise to the experience of hallucinations is aberrant patterns of neuronal activity whereby the PAC is overly sensitive to activation arising from internal processing, while being less responsive to external stimulation. In this paper, we review recent research relevant to the role of the PAC in the generation of AVHs. We present new data from a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, examining the responsivity of the left and right PAC to parametrical modulation of the intensity of auditory verbal stimulation, and corresponding attentional top-down control in non-clinical participants with AVHs, and non-clinical participants with no AVHs. Non-clinical hallucinators showed reduced activation to speech sounds but intact attentional modulation in the right PAC. Additionally, we present data from a group of schizophrenia patients with AVHs, who do not show attentional modulation of left or right PAC. The context-appropriate modulation of the PAC may be a protective factor in non-clinical hallucinations. PMID:23630479

Neurophysiological Studies of Auditory Verbal Hallucinations

PubMed Central

Ford, Judith M.; Dierks, Thomas; Fisher, Derek J.; Herrmann, Christoph S.; Hubl, Daniela; Kindler, Jochen; Koenig, Thomas; Mathalon, Daniel H.; Spencer, Kevin M.; Strik, Werner; van Lutterveld, Remko

2012-01-01

We discuss 3 neurophysiological approaches to study auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). First, we describe “state” (or symptom capture) studies where periods with and without hallucinations are compared “within” a patient. These studies take 2 forms: passive studies, where brain activity during these states is compared, and probe studies, where brain responses to sounds during these states are compared. EEG (electroencephalography) and MEG (magnetoencephalography) data point to frontal and temporal lobe activity, the latter resulting in competition with external sounds for auditory resources. Second, we discuss “trait” studies where EEG and MEG responses to sounds are recorded from patients who hallucinate and those who do not. They suggest a tendency to hallucinate is associated with competition for auditory processing resources. Third, we discuss studies addressing possible mechanisms of AVH, including spontaneous neural activity, abnormal self-monitoring, and dysfunctional interregional communication. While most studies show differences in EEG and MEG responses between patients and controls, far fewer show symptom relationships. We conclude that efforts to understand the pathophysiology of AVH using EEG and MEG have been hindered by poor anatomical resolution of the EEG and MEG measures, poor assessment of symptoms, poor understanding of the phenomenon, poor models of the phenomenon, decoupling of the symptoms from the neurophysiology due to medications and comorbidites, and the possibility that the schizophrenia diagnosis breeds truer than the symptoms it comprises. These problems are common to studies of other psychiatric symptoms and should be considered when attempting to understand the basic neural mechanisms responsible for them. PMID:22368236

Risk factors of compliance with self-harm command hallucinations in individuals with affective and non-affective psychosis.

PubMed

Dugré, Jules R; Guay, Jean-Pierre; Dumais, Alexandre

2018-05-01

Clinicians are often left with the difficult task of assessing and managing the risk of violent behaviors in individuals having command hallucinations, which may result in substantial rates of false positive or false negative. Moreover, findings on the association between command hallucinations and suicidal behaviors are limited. In an attempt to better understand compliance to this hallucinatory phenomenon, our objective was to identify the risk factors of compliance with self-harm command hallucinations. Secondary analyses from the MacArthur Study were performed on 82 participants with psychosis reporting such commands. Univariate logistic regression was used to examine the classification value of each characteristic associated with compliance with such commands. Seriousness and frequency of childhood physical abuse, a current comorbid substance use disorder, emotional distress, general symptomatology, history of compliance, and belief about compliance in the future were found to be significant risk factors of compliance with self-harm commands in the week preceding psychiatric inpatient. Multivariate analyses revealed that severity of childhood physical abuse, belief about compliance in the future, and a current comorbid substance use disorder were independent risk factors. The final model showed excellent classification accuracy as suggest by the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC=0.84, 95% CI: 0.75-0.92, p<0.001). Our results suggest considerable clinical implications in regard to the assessment of risk of compliance to self-harm command hallucinations in individuals with psychosis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The "doses" of initial, untreated hallucinations and delusions: a proof-of-concept study of enhanced predictors of first-episode symptomatology and functioning relative to duration of untreated psychosis.

PubMed

Compton, Michael T; Gordon, Tynessa L; Weiss, Paul S; Walker, Elaine F

2011-11-01

A prominent limitation of literature on duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is that researchers have studied only unidimensional duration as an early-course predictor, neglecting potential effects of frequency/severity of initial, untreated psychosis. This study demonstrates utility of the concept of "doses" of initial, untreated hallucinations and delusions-representing more complete measures of "exposure"-as enhanced predictors of symptomatology/functioning relative to DUP alone. 109 first-episode patients with a psychotic disorder based on Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders criteria were assessed at 3 public-sector psychiatric units serving an urban, socially disadvantaged, predominantly African American community between July 2004 and June 2008. Dependent variables included negative symptoms, general psychopathology, insight, and global functioning at initial hospitalization. When added to a baseline model (age, gender, and premorbid academic and social functioning), DUP predicted current negative symptoms (P = .02, model R(2) = 0.20), though dose of hallucinations and dose of delusions did not. However, regarding general psychopathology symptoms, DUP was not predictive, though dose of delusions was, when controlling for the other 5 variables (P = .02, model R(2) = 0.15). DUP was not a significant predictor of insight, though dose of hallucinations was, such that a greater dose of initial, untreated hallucinations was associated with better insight at initial hospitalization (P < .01, model R(2) = 0.20). DUP was associated with global functioning (P = .05), and dose of delusions added significantly to this prediction (P = .04; model R(2) = 0.13). Doses of initial, untreated hallucinations and delusions add substantively, though differentially, to the prediction of early-course symptomatology and functioning. Findings suggest a need for focused research on frequency/severity of pretreatment psychotic symptoms beyond duration measures. © Copyright 2011 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.

Academic Supports, Cognitive Disability and Mathematics Acheivement for Visually Imparied Youth: A Multilevel Modeling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giesen, J. Martin; Cavenaugh, Brenda S.; McDonnall, Michele Capella

2012-01-01

Elementary and middle school students who are blind or visually impaired (VI) lag up to three years behind non-disabled peers in mathematics achievement. We investigated the impact of academic supports in the school on mathematics achievement, controlling grade, gender, cognitive disability, and family SES. Data were from SEELS (Special Education…

Visualization of Two Dimensional to Three Dimensional Transformations--Exploration through Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costa, G. B.; Gorak, M.; Melendez, B. S.

2006-01-01

A small class of functions is described that easily lend themselves to two-dimensional and three-dimensional visualizations at the basic calculus level. The intended audience is those educators involved in the instruction of elementary calculus. This note is an educational piece that begins with the question: "What happens if a function defined on…

Strategies in Reading Comprehension: III. Visual Imagery as a Psychological Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levin, Joel R.; Divine-Hawkins, Patricia

The viability of visual imagery as a prose-learning process was evaluated in two experiments with elementary school children in this study. In experiment one, two concrete ten-sentence passages were constructed. The attributes of two subclasses were contrasted in each passage (two kinds of monkeys in one passage, and two kinds of cars in the…

Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped. A Curriculum Guide for Students. Bulletin No. 7393.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisconsin State Dept. of Public Instruction, Madison. Div. for Handicapped Children and Pupil Services.

The curriculum guide sets forth the course of study at the Wisconsin School for the Visually Handicapped. An initial section presents the school's philosophy regarding the need for specialty skills to be incorporated into regular academic instruction. The content of the primary and elementary programs (kindergarten through grade 6) is reviewed in…

[The substance experience, a history of LSD].

PubMed

Beck, François; Bonnet, Nicolas

2013-04-01

This article reviews the recent knowledge on LSD stemming from various disciplines among which pharmacology, sociology and epidemiology. The d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a particularly powerful hallucinogenic substance. It produces distortions and hearing, visual and tactile hallucinations. Rarely used (only 1.7% of people aged 15-64 years old have tried it in their lifetime), this very powerful drug generates a strong apprehension within the general population, but the ethnographical studies show that its image seems rather good among illicit drug users. This representation relies both on the proper effects of this substance and also on the history of LSD very closely linked to the counterculture characteristic of the years 1960-1970. © 2013 médecine/sciences – Inserm / SRMS.

[Clinico-pathologic correlation of dementia produced by thinner and cocaine].

PubMed

Barroso Moguel, R; Méndez Armenta, M; Villeda Hernández, J

1993-01-01

Industrial solvents mixed from thinner, used in paints, leathers, rubber, varnishes, have neurotoxic action. By laboral inhalation or spontaneously these are absorbed from the lungs, transported by blood and because of this high lipophilic section are retained within the lipid rich nervous system. Euphoric effects appear accompanied with visual and additive halucinations. In chronic abusers it produce schizophrenic-paranoid consequences with encephalic and peripheral neuronal and nervous fibers destruction, accompanied of blindness and paralysis. Cocaine is another neurotoxic drug. At first it produces euphoria, arterial hypertension and symptoms suggestive of underlying psychiatric diseases. The cocaine addicts often suffer depression, paranoia, hallucinations, seizures and suicidal ideation. The morphological base of the symptomatology is the encephalic and peripheral neuronal and nerve fibers destruction.

Dementia with Lewy bodies in an elderly Greek male due to alpha-synuclein gene mutation.

PubMed

Morfis, Litsa; Cordato, Dennis John

2006-11-01

We report the case of an elderly man of Greek background who presented with progressive cognitive decline and motor parkinsonism on a background of a strong family history of Parkinson's disease. Associated symptoms included visual hallucinations, excessive daytime drowsiness, recurrent falls, orthostatic hypotension and urinary incontinence. His major clinical symptoms and signs fulfilled consensus criteria for a clinical diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies. An alpha-synuclein gene mutation analysis for the G209A substitution was positive. We conclude that the alpha-synuclein (G209A) gene mutation genotype should be considered in the differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies, particularly in patients with European ancestry and a family history of Parkinson's disease.

Reflective mirrors: perspective-taking in autoscopic phenomena.

PubMed

Brugger, Peter

2002-08-01

''Autoscopic phenomena refer to different illusory reduplications of one's own body and self. This article proposes a phenomenological differentiation of autoscopic reduplication into three distinct classes, i.e., autoscopic hallucinations, heautoscopy, and out-of-body experiences (OBEs). Published cases are analysed with special emphasis on the subject's point of view from which the reduplication is observed. In an autoscopic hallucination the observer's perspective is clearly body-centred, and the visual image of one's own body appears as a mirror reversal. Heautoscopy (i.e., the encounter with an alter ego or doppelgänger), is defined as a reduplication not only of bodily appearance, but also of aspects of one's psychological self. The observer's perspective may alternate between egocentric and ''alter-ego-centred''. As a consequence of the projection of bodily feelings into the doppelgänger (implying a mental rotation of one's own body along the vertical axis), original and reduplicated bodies are not mirror images of one another. This also holds for OBEs, where one's self is not reduplicated but appears to be completely dissociated from the body and observing it from a location in extracorporeal space. It is argued that perspective-taking in a spatial sense may be meaningfully related to perspective-taking in a psychological sense. The mirror in the autoscopic hallucination is a ''cognitively nonreflective mirror'' (Jean Cocteau), both spatially and psychologically. The reflective abilities of the heautoscopic mirror are better developed, yet frequent shifts in the observer's spatial perspective render the nature of psychological interactions between self and alter ego highly unpredictable. The doppelgänger may serve a transitivistic (i.e., own suffering is transferred to the alter ego) or aggressive function when this behaviour is directed against a patient. The mirror in an OBE is always reflective: It allows the self to view both space and one's psychological state from a detached but stable perspective. Spatial perspective-taking should be more thoroughly assessed in patients reporting autoscopic phenomena. By elucidating the interactions between spatial phenomenology and psychological function, we may gain important insights into the relationships between the self, its body, and phenomenal space.

An exploration of how psychotic-like symptoms are experienced, endorsed, and understood from the National Latino and Asian American Study and National Survey of American Life

PubMed Central

Earl, Tara; Fortuna, Lisa R.; Gao, Shan; Williams, David R.; Neighbors, Harold W.; Takeuchi, David; Alegría, Margarita

2016-01-01

Objective To examine racial/ethnic differences in the endorsement and attribution of psychotic-like symptoms in a nationally representative sample of African Americans, Asians, Caribbean Blacks, and Latinos living in the United States. Design Data were drawn from a total of 979 respondents who endorsed psychotic-like symptoms as part of the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS) and the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). We use a mixed qualitative and quantitative analytical approach to examine sociodemographic and ethnic variations in the prevalence and attributions of hallucinations and other psychotic-like symptoms in the NLAAS and NSAL. The lifetime presence of psychotic-like symptoms was assessed using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMH-CIDI) psychotic symptom screener. We used logistic regression models to examine the probability of endorsing the four most frequently occurring thematic categories for psychotic-like experiences by race/ethnicity (n>100). We used qualitative methods to explore common themes from participant responses to open ended questions on their attributions for psychotic-like symptoms. Results African Americans were significantly less likely to endorse visual hallucinations compared to Caribbean Blacks (73.7% and 89.3%, p<.001), but they endorsed auditory hallucinations symptoms more than Caribbean Blacks (43.1% and 25.7, p<.05). Endorsing delusions of reference and thought insertion/withdrawal were more prevalent for Latinos than for African Americans (11% and 4.7%, p<.05; 6.3% and 2.7%, p<.05, respectively). Attribution themes included: supernatural, ghosts/unidentified beings, death and dying, spirituality or religiosity, premonitions, familial and other. Respondents differed by race/ethnicity in the attributions given to psychotic like symptoms. Conclusion Findings suggest that variations exist by race/ethnicity in both psychotic-like symptom endorsement and in self-reported attributions/understandings for these symptoms on a psychosis screening instrument. Racial/ethnic differences could result from culturally sanctioned beliefs and idioms of distress that deserve more attention in conducting culturally informed and responsive screening, assessment and treatment. PMID:24920148

Regional Center of Excellence for PTSD: Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: in children, trauma...sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when...thinking about event 2 Moderate, definite but transient dissociative quality, still very aware of surroundings, daydreaming quality 3 Severe

Pavlovian Conditioning-Induced Hallucinations Result from Overweighting of Perceptual Priors

PubMed Central

Powers, A.R.; Mathys, C.; Corlett, P.R.

2018-01-01

Some people hear voices that others do not, but only some of those people seek treatment. Using a Pavlovian learning task, we induced conditioned hallucinations in four groups of people who differed orthogonally in their voice-hearing and treatment-seeking statuses. People who hear voices were significantly more susceptible to the effect. Using functional neuroimaging and computational modeling of perception, we identified processes that differentiated voice-hearers from non-voice-hearers and treatment-seekers from non-treatment-seekers and characterized a brain circuit that mediated the conditioned hallucinations. These data demonstrate the profound and sometimes pathological impact of top-down cognitive processes on perception and may represent an objective means to discern people with a need for treatment from those without. PMID:28798131

Evaluation and treatment of acute psychosis in children with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): consultation-liaison service experiences at a tertiary-care pediatric institution.

PubMed

Muscal, Eyal; Nadeem, Tania; Li, Xiofan; Mian, Ayesha; Harris, Toi Blakley

2010-01-01

Neurological and psychiatric manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are prevalent in children with SLE. There are few data on the evaluation and management of psychotic features in children with this systemic autoimmune disorder. The authors describe contemporary Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Consultation and Liaison service management of acute psychosis in children with lupus. The authors reviewed the records (2003-2008) of all pediatric SLE inpatients who were administered a traditional or atypical antipsychotic agent. They describe clinical features, initial and discharge mental status examinations, and inpatient psychotropic medication usage. Ten pediatric SLE patients (age 10-19 years) required psychiatric management for psychosis during the review period. Paranoid delusions (70%), visual hallucinations (60%), and auditory hallucinations (60%) were the most common psychotic symptoms documented. All children were initially treated with an antipsychotic medication. Seven children were maintained on an atypical antipsychotic during their hospitalization. Two children had extrapyramidal signs, but no other adverse events were documented. All children were improved at discharge, and 40% had complete resolution of psychosis; 8 of the 10 patients were discharged on a psychotropic medication. Psychotic manifestations associated with severe disease presentations were successfully treated by child psychiatrists. Atypical antipsychotics were well-tolerated and used as an adjunct to immunosuppressive regimens in these patients. Prospective studies are necessary to improve the care of children and adolescents with SLE and severe psychiatric manifestations.

Cross cultural variations in psychiatrists' perception of mental illness: A tool for teaching culture in psychiatry.

PubMed

Biswas, Jhilam; Gangadhar, B N; Keshavan, Matcheri

2016-10-01

A frequent debate in psychiatry is to what extent major psychiatric diagnoses are universal versus unique across cultures. We sought to identify cultural variations between psychiatrists' diagnostic practices of mental illness in Boston Massachusetts and Bangalore, India. We surveyed psychiatrists to identify differences in how frequently symptoms appear in major mental illness in two culturally and geographically different cities. Indian psychiatrists found somatic symptoms like pain, sleep and appetite to be significantly more important in depression and violent and aggressive behavior to be significantly more common in mania than did American psychiatrists. American psychiatrists found pessimism about the future to be more significant in depression and pressured speech and marked distractibility to be more significant in mania than among Indian psychiatrists. Both groups agreed the top four symptoms of psychosis were paranoia, lack of insight, delusions and auditory hallucinations and both groups agreed that visual hallucinations and motor peculiarities to be least significant. Despite a different set of resources, both groups noted similar barriers to mental health care access. However, American psychiatrists found substance abuse to be a significant barrier to care whereas Indian psychiatrists found embarrassing the family was a significant barrier to accessing care. Because psychiatrists see a large volume of individuals across different cultures, their collective perception of most common symptoms in psychiatric illness is a tool in finding cultural patterns. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging.

PubMed

Carhart-Harris, Robin L; Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh; Roseman, Leor; Kaelen, Mendel; Droog, Wouter; Murphy, Kevin; Tagliazucchi, Enzo; Schenberg, Eduardo E; Nest, Timothy; Orban, Csaba; Leech, Robert; Williams, Luke T; Williams, Tim M; Bolstridge, Mark; Sessa, Ben; McGonigle, John; Sereno, Martin I; Nichols, David; Hellyer, Peter J; Hobden, Peter; Evans, John; Singh, Krish D; Wise, Richard G; Curran, H Valerie; Feilding, Amanda; Nutt, David J

2016-04-26

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the prototypical psychedelic drug, but its effects on the human brain have never been studied before with modern neuroimaging. Here, three complementary neuroimaging techniques: arterial spin labeling (ASL), blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) measures, and magnetoencephalography (MEG), implemented during resting state conditions, revealed marked changes in brain activity after LSD that correlated strongly with its characteristic psychological effects. Increased visual cortex cerebral blood flow (CBF), decreased visual cortex alpha power, and a greatly expanded primary visual cortex (V1) functional connectivity profile correlated strongly with ratings of visual hallucinations, implying that intrinsic brain activity exerts greater influence on visual processing in the psychedelic state, thereby defining its hallucinatory quality. LSD's marked effects on the visual cortex did not significantly correlate with the drug's other characteristic effects on consciousness, however. Rather, decreased connectivity between the parahippocampus and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) correlated strongly with ratings of "ego-dissolution" and "altered meaning," implying the importance of this particular circuit for the maintenance of "self" or "ego" and its processing of "meaning." Strong relationships were also found between the different imaging metrics, enabling firmer inferences to be made about their functional significance. This uniquely comprehensive examination of the LSD state represents an important advance in scientific research with psychedelic drugs at a time of growing interest in their scientific and therapeutic value. The present results contribute important new insights into the characteristic hallucinatory and consciousness-altering properties of psychedelics that inform on how they can model certain pathological states and potentially treat others.

Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging

PubMed Central

Carhart-Harris, Robin L.; Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh; Roseman, Leor; Kaelen, Mendel; Droog, Wouter; Murphy, Kevin; Tagliazucchi, Enzo; Schenberg, Eduardo E.; Nest, Timothy; Orban, Csaba; Leech, Robert; Williams, Luke T.; Williams, Tim M.; Bolstridge, Mark; Sessa, Ben; McGonigle, John; Sereno, Martin I.; Nichols, David; Hobden, Peter; Evans, John; Singh, Krish D.; Wise, Richard G.; Curran, H. Valerie; Feilding, Amanda; Nutt, David J.

2016-01-01

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is the prototypical psychedelic drug, but its effects on the human brain have never been studied before with modern neuroimaging. Here, three complementary neuroimaging techniques: arterial spin labeling (ASL), blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) measures, and magnetoencephalography (MEG), implemented during resting state conditions, revealed marked changes in brain activity after LSD that correlated strongly with its characteristic psychological effects. Increased visual cortex cerebral blood flow (CBF), decreased visual cortex alpha power, and a greatly expanded primary visual cortex (V1) functional connectivity profile correlated strongly with ratings of visual hallucinations, implying that intrinsic brain activity exerts greater influence on visual processing in the psychedelic state, thereby defining its hallucinatory quality. LSD’s marked effects on the visual cortex did not significantly correlate with the drug’s other characteristic effects on consciousness, however. Rather, decreased connectivity between the parahippocampus and retrosplenial cortex (RSC) correlated strongly with ratings of “ego-dissolution” and “altered meaning,” implying the importance of this particular circuit for the maintenance of “self” or “ego” and its processing of “meaning.” Strong relationships were also found between the different imaging metrics, enabling firmer inferences to be made about their functional significance. This uniquely comprehensive examination of the LSD state represents an important advance in scientific research with psychedelic drugs at a time of growing interest in their scientific and therapeutic value. The present results contribute important new insights into the characteristic hallucinatory and consciousness-altering properties of psychedelics that inform on how they can model certain pathological states and potentially treat others. PMID:27071089

Do specific early-life adversities lead to specific symptoms of psychosis? A study from the 2007 the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey.

PubMed

Bentall, Richard P; Wickham, Sophie; Shevlin, Mark; Varese, Filippo

2012-06-01

Previous studies have reported associations between childhood adversities, eg, loss of a parent, being raised in institutional care, sexual and other kinds of abuse by adults and bullying by peers, and psychosis in adulthood. However, the mechanisms by which these adversities lead to psychotic experiences are poorly understood. From models of the psychological processes involved in positive symptoms, it was predicted that childhood sexual abuse would be specifically associated with auditory hallucinations in adulthood, and that disruption of early attachment relations and more chronic forms of victimization such as bullying would be specifically associated with paranoid ideation. We therefore examined the associations between sexual trauma, physical abuse, bullying, and being brought up in institutional or local authority care and reports of auditory hallucinations and paranoid beliefs in the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. All simple associations between childhood adversities and the two symptom types were significant. Childhood rape was associated only with hallucinations (OR 8.9, CI = 1.86-42.44) once co-occurring paranoia was controlled for. Being brought up in institutional care (OR = 11.08, CI = 3.26-37.62) was specifically associated with paranoia once comorbid hallucinations had been controlled for. For each symptom, dose-response relationships were observed between the number of childhood traumas and the risk of the symptom. The specific associations observed are consistent with current psychological theories about the origins of hallucinations and paranoia. Further research is required to study the psychological and biological mediators of these associations.

Interaction of language, auditory and memory brain networks in auditory verbal hallucinations.

PubMed

Ćurčić-Blake, Branislava; Ford, Judith M; Hubl, Daniela; Orlov, Natasza D; Sommer, Iris E; Waters, Flavie; Allen, Paul; Jardri, Renaud; Woodruff, Peter W; David, Olivier; Mulert, Christoph; Woodward, Todd S; Aleman, André

2017-01-01

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) occur in psychotic disorders, but also as a symptom of other conditions and even in healthy people. Several current theories on the origin of AVH converge, with neuroimaging studies suggesting that the language, auditory and memory/limbic networks are of particular relevance. However, reconciliation of these theories with experimental evidence is missing. We review 50 studies investigating functional (EEG and fMRI) and anatomic (diffusion tensor imaging) connectivity in these networks, and explore the evidence supporting abnormal connectivity in these networks associated with AVH. We distinguish between functional connectivity during an actual hallucination experience (symptom capture) and functional connectivity during either the resting state or a task comparing individuals who hallucinate with those who do not (symptom association studies). Symptom capture studies clearly reveal a pattern of increased coupling among the auditory, language and striatal regions. Anatomical and symptom association functional studies suggest that the interhemispheric connectivity between posterior auditory regions may depend on the phase of illness, with increases in non-psychotic individuals and first episode patients and decreases in chronic patients. Leading hypotheses involving concepts as unstable memories, source monitoring, top-down attention, and hybrid models of hallucinations are supported in part by the published connectivity data, although several caveats and inconsistencies remain. Specifically, possible changes in fronto-temporal connectivity are still under debate. Precise hypotheses concerning the directionality of connections deduced from current theoretical approaches should be tested using experimental approaches that allow for discrimination of competing hypotheses. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A metacognitive model of the sense of agency over thoughts.

PubMed

Carruthers, Glenn

2012-01-01

The sense of agency over thoughts is the experience of oneself qua agent of mental action. Those suffering certain psychotic symptoms are thought to have a deficient sense of agency. Here I seek to explain this sense of agency in terms of metacognition. I start with the proposal that the sense of agency is elicited by metacognitive monitoring representations that are used in the intentional inhibition of thoughts. I apply this model to verbal hallucinations and the like and examine the plausibility of this model explaining deficits associated with these symptoms. By tying the sense of agency to metacognitive inhibition I propose that the loss of a sense of agency in certain psychotic symptoms is accompanied by a particular deficit in the patient's ability to control their own thinking. This is consistent with the experiences of those at high risk of developing hallucinations, who report more intrusive thoughts than controls. The model I present is able to explain why those at risk of developing verbal hallucinations and those suffering from verbal hallucinations have deficits in the intentional inhibition of thought. I defend this account from a possible objection by distinguishing the form of the intentional inhibition deficit displayed by those suffering verbal hallucination from that displayed by those suffering from orbital-frontal cortex lesions and posttraumatic stress disorder. A plausible hypothesis is that the sense of agency over thoughts is elicited by the metacognitive monitoring representation used to intentionally inhibit thoughts. The deficit in the sense of agency over thoughts associated with certain psychotic symptoms could be explained by a failure to properly metacognitively monitor certain thought processes.

Treatment with venlafaxine in six cases of children with narcolepsy and with cataplexy and hypnagogic hallucinations.

PubMed

Møller, Lene Ruge; Østergaard, John R

2009-04-01

Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder associated with inappropriate control of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The main symptoms are excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and disturbed nocturnal sleep. Cataplexy is marked by episodes of muscular weakness and may cause the patient to collapse to the ground. So far, pharmacotherapy of cataplexy and hypnagogic hallucinations has been predominantly based on tricyclic antidepressants. Recently, new drugs that block the reuptake of norepineprine and serotonin (e.g., venlafaxine) have been suggested as first-line treatment. These drugs have become our choice in treating children with cataplexy and nightmares as a symptom in narcolepsy. We describe clinical case reports of venlafaxine treatment in 6 children aged 7-12 years old when diagnosed with narcolepsy-cataplexy. In 2 cases with up to 50 daily cataplectic attacks, an initial effect of 37.5 mg of venlafaxine was initially observed. However, during the first year, the dose had to be increased to 112.5 mg daily to avoid cataplexy. A third patient with partial cataplexy was treated with 75 mg of venlafaxine daily. In 2 cases, hypnagogic hallucinations, described by the patients as nightmares, were the most troubling symptom and were successfully treated with only 37.5 mg of venlafaxine daily. Side effects included an increase of disturbed nocturnal sleep when venlafaxine was taken after 2:00 p.m. No major aggressive or suicidal thoughts and no raised blood pressure were recorded. Venlafaxine has proven to be an effective treatment of cataplexy and hypnagogic hallucinations in 6 children with narcolepsy. No severe side effects were observed.

Three Approaches to Teaching Art Methods Courses: Child Art, Visual Culture, and Issues-Based Art Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, EunJung; Lim, Maria; Kim, Minam

2012-01-01

In this article, three art educators reflect on their ideas and experiences in developing and implementing innovative projects for their courses focusing on art for elementary education majors. They explore three different approaches. The three areas that are discussed in depth include: (1) understanding child art; (2) visual culture; and (3)…

Seeking Visual Clarity an Examination of Font Legibility and Visual Presentation for Elementary-Level Special Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haugen, Theresa Tetrick

2010-01-01

This study examined font and layout alternatives for mild special education children in third through sixth grade. Of this group, twelve were boys and two were girls, seven were suburban students and seven were urban students. During the first phase, the students were observed reading four different fonts, then the participant named the easiest…

Disentangling Fine Motor Skills' Relations to Academic Achievement: The Relative Contributions of Visual-Spatial Integration and Visual-Motor Coordination

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlson, Abby G.; Rowe, Ellen; Curby, Timothy W.

2013-01-01

Recent research has established a connection between children's fine motor skills and their academic performance. Previous research has focused on fine motor skills measured prior to elementary school, while the present sample included children ages 5-18 years old, making it possible to examine whether this link remains relevant throughout…

Regional Center of Excellence for PTSD: Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative ...illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children...definite but transient dissociative quality, still very aware of surroundings, daydreaming quality 3 Severe, strongly dissociative (reports images

Religious content of hallucinations in paranoid schizophrenia.

PubMed

Krzystanek, Marek; Krysta, Krzysztof; Klasik, Adam; Krupka-Matuszczyk, Irena

2012-09-01

Different environmental factors are thought to be responsible for 15-20% of schizophrenia pathogenesis. Religion has long been considered a major force in human life, regardless of economic, social or political affiliation. How the perception of religion has changed over time, especially in the context of mental illness, was the focal point of this long-term comparative study. A random selection of 100 case histories from the years 1932, 1952, 1972 and 1992 was selected. By reviewing the subject history and medical notes, information on the presence of religious hallucinations and/or delusions were collected and grouped. Religious topics were demonstrated in 46.8% of the test population. Whereas there was a clear diversity of religious-themed delusions, "God", "Christ", "Mary", "Satan/devil" and "hell" all figured prominently across all reviewed years. There is a progressive decrease in the number of religious topics in paranoid schizophrenia. The transfer of holiness from historical saints onto a subject was observed. Evil dominates over good in productive symptoms in paranoid schizophrenia. The phenomenon of apocalyptic subjects in paranoid hallucinations and delusions increased after the Second World War. Religious topics of hallucinations and delusions change over time and relate to objective historical events and reflect changes in religiosity in society.

Predicting Psychotic-Like Experiences during Sensory Deprivation

PubMed Central

Daniel, Christina; Mason, Oliver J.

2015-01-01

Aims. This study aimed to establish the contribution of hallucination proneness, anxiety, suggestibility, and fantasy proneness to psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) reported during brief sensory deprivation. Method. Twenty-four high and 22 low hallucination-prone participants reported on PLEs occurring during brief sensory deprivation and at baseline. State/trait anxiety, suggestibility, and fantasy proneness were also measured. Results. Both groups experienced a significant increase in PLEs in sensory deprivation. The high hallucination prone group reported more PLEs both at baseline and in sensory deprivation. They also scored significantly higher on measures of state/trait anxiety, suggestibility, and fantasy proneness, though these did not explain the effects of group or condition. Regression analysis found hallucination proneness to be the best predictor of the increase in PLEs, with state anxiety also being a significant predictor. Fantasy proneness and suggestibility were not significant predictors. Conclusion. This study suggests the increase in PLEs reported during sensory deprivation reflects a genuine aberration in perceptual experience, as opposed to increased tendency to make false reports due to suggestibility of fantasy proneness. The study provides further support for the use of sensory deprivation as a safe and effective nonpharmacological model of psychosis. PMID:25811027

A comparison of public attitudes in Britain and Saudi Arabia towards auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Wahass, S; Kent, G

1997-01-01

The successful introduction of community interventions is partly dependent on public beliefs about the aetiology and treatment of psychiatric difficulties and tolerance of community integration. This study examined community attitudes towards auditory hallucinations in Saudi Arabia (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) concerning (a) causes of auditory hallucinations, (b) the efficacy of interventions and (c) levels of social rejection. Responses from 281 patients attending their general practitioners indicated that those living in Saudi Arabia were most likely to believe that hallucinations are caused by Satan or due to magic, while the UK sample were more likely to cite schizophrenia or brain damage. While the Saudi sample believed that religious assistance would be most effective, the UK sample supported medication and psychological therapies. Beliefs about aetiology and treatment were unrelated to educational attainment. There was a greater degree of social rejection of patients in Saudi Arabia, but here educational attainment was of significance. These results suggest that beliefs about aetiology are related to treatment recommendations and social distancing, and thus have implications for the care of Arabic patients living in Western countries as well as for the use of Western interventions in non-Western cultures.

A case of successful treatment with donepezil of olfactory hallucination in parkinson disease.

PubMed

Osada, Osamu; Iwasaki, Akira

2017-01-31

We report a 74-year-old female patient with Parkinson disease (PD). Around 2010, she developed depression and bradykinesia and was diagnosed as PD. In July 2014, she came to our hospital, of which she lived in the neighborhood. In the last part of December 2014, she felt uneasy about her fecal smell and saw a psychiatrist in the first part of January 2015. Quetiapine (25 mg/day) was added. In the last part of January, she complained of fecal smell everywhere and could not take a meal. No-one else could detect the smell. A diagnosis of olfactory hallucination was made. The next day after increasing to 75mg/day, however, she was admitted to our hospital because of refusing to take medicine. After introducing donepezil, olfactory hallucination subsided and her appetite was improved. Brain MRI showed atrophy of the bilateral temporal lobes and N-isopropyl-p-(iodine-123)-iodoamphetamine single photon emission computed tomography ( 123 I-IMP-SPECT) revealed hypoperfusion in the bilateral mesial temporal lobes. We suppose that cholinergic denervation in the mesial temporal lobes is an important determinant of her olfactory hallucination.

Musical hallucinations in a patient with presbycusis: a case report.

PubMed

Brunner, Jacob P; Amedee, Ronald G

2015-01-01

Musical hallucinations are a rare subtype of auditory hallucination characterized by the perception of musical sounds, instrumental music, or songs. They are most commonly seen in older women with age-related hearing loss but are also associated with neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The underlying pathophysiology is poorly understood and likely multifactorial. A 74-year-old woman presented with subjective hearing loss 2-3 years in duration with a recent development of hearing continuous patriotic and children's songs playing in her head. After extensive interviewing and the documentation of a normal otologic/comprehensive head and neck examination, audiologic evaluation revealed evidence of a symmetric high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss consistent with presbycusis. She was counseled on the use of ambient noise and offered a trial of binaural hearing amplification. The diagnosis of musical hallucinations requires the consideration of numerous possible etiologies. Treatment varies widely, but many patients improve with the use of ambient noise and hearing amplification. Lack of response requires the consideration of pharmacologic treatments such as anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and anticholinesterases. It is important to reassure patients with a nonpsychiatric etiology that use of these drugs does not imply psychiatric illness.

Edmodo social learning network for elementary school mathematics learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ariani, Y.; Helsa, Y.; Ahmad, S.; Prahmana, RCI

2017-12-01

A developed instructional media can be as printed media, visual media, audio media, and multimedia. The development of instructional media can also take advantage of technological development by utilizing Edmodo social network. This research aims to develop a digital classroom learning model using Edmodo social learning network for elementary school mathematics learning which is practical, valid and effective in order to improve the quality of learning activities. The result of this research showed that the prototype of mathematics learning device for elementary school students using Edmodo was in good category. There were 72% of students passed the assessment as a result of Edmodo learning. Edmodo has become a promising way to engage students in a collaborative learning process.

Committor of elementary reactions on multistate systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Király, Péter; Kiss, Dóra Judit; Tóth, Gergely

2018-04-01

In our study, we extend the committor concept on multi-minima systems, where more than one reaction may proceed, but the feasible data evaluation needs the projection onto partial reactions. The elementary reaction committor and the corresponding probability density of the reactive trajectories are defined and calculated on a three-hole two-dimensional model system explored by single-particle Langevin dynamics. We propose a method to visualize more elementary reaction committor functions or probability densities of reactive trajectories on a single plot that helps to identify the most important reaction channels and the nonreactive domains simultaneously. We suggest a weighting for the energy-committor plots that correctly shows the limits of both the minimal energy path and the average energy concepts. The methods also performed well on the analysis of molecular dynamics trajectories of 2-chlorobutane, where an elementary reaction committor, the probability densities, the potential energy/committor, and the free-energy/committor curves are presented.

Cognitive behaviour therapy to prevent harmful compliance with command hallucinations (COMMAND): a randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Birchwood, Max; Michail, Maria; Meaden, Alan; Tarrier, Nicholas; Lewis, Shon; Wykes, Til; Davies, Linda; Dunn, Graham; Peters, Emmanuelle

2014-06-01

Acting on command hallucinations in psychosis can have serious consequences for the individual and for other people and is a major cause of clinical and public concern. No evidence-based treatments are available to reduce this risk behaviour. We therefore tested our new cognitive therapy to challenge the perceived power of voices to inflict harm on the voice hearer if commands are not followed, thereby reducing the hearer's motivation to comply. In COMMAND, a single-blind, randomised controlled trial, eligible participants from three centres in the UK who had command hallucinations for at least 6 months leading to major episodes of harm to themselves or other people were assigned in a 1: 1 ratio to cognitive therapy for command hallucinations + treatment as usual versus just treatment as usual for 9 months. Only the raters were masked to treatment assignment. The primary outcome was harmful compliance. Analysis was by intention to treat. The trial is registered, number ISRCTN62304114. 98 (50%) of 197 participants were assigned to cognitive therapy for command hallucinations + treatment as usual and 99 (50%) to treatment as usual. At 18 months, 39 (46%) of 85 participants in the treatment as usual group fully complied with the voices compared with 22 (28%) of 79 in the cognitive therapy for command hallucinations + treatment as usual group (odds ratio 0·45, 95% CI 0·23-0·88, p=0·021). At 9 months the treatment effect was not significant (0·74, 0·40-1·39, p=0·353). However, the treatment by follow-up interaction was not significant and the treatment effect common to both follow-up points was 0·57 (0·33-0·98, p=0·042). This is the first trial to show a clinically meaningful reduction in risk behaviour associated with commanding voices. We will next determine if change in power was the mediator of change. Further more complex trials are needed to identify the most influential components of the treatment in reducing power and compliance. UK Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of using cognitive behavioural therapy to improve sleep for patients with delusions and hallucinations (the BEST study): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Freeman, Daniel; Startup, Helen; Myers, Elissa; Harvey, Allison; Geddes, John; Yu, Ly-Mee; Zaiwalla, Zenobia; Luengo-Fernandez, Ramon; Foster, Russell; Lister, Rachel

2013-07-11

Patients with psychosis frequently report difficulties getting or staying asleep (insomnia). Dissatisfaction with sleep is high. Insomnia should be treated in this group, but typically it is not even assessed. Importantly, recent evidence indicates that insomnia triggers and exacerbates delusions and hallucinations. The clinical implication is that if the insomnia is treated then the psychotic symptoms will significantly lessen. In a case series with 15 patients with persecutory delusions resistant to previous treatment this is exactly what we found: cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) led to large reductions in both the insomnia and delusions. The clear next step is a pilot randomized controlled test. The clinical aim is to test whether CBT-I can reduce both insomnia and psychotic symptoms. The trial will inform decisions for a definitive large-scale evaluation. We will carry out a randomized controlled trial (the Better Sleep Trial, or the BEST study) with 60 patients with distressing delusions or hallucinations in the context of a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis. Half of the participants will be randomized to receive CBT-I, in addition to their standard treatment, for up to eight sessions over 12 weeks. The other half will continue with treatment as usual. Blind assessments will take place at 0 weeks, 12 weeks (post-treatment) and 24 weeks (follow-up). The primary outcome hypotheses are that CBT-I added to treatment as usual will improve sleep, delusions and hallucinations compared with only treatment as usual. All main analyses will be carried out at the end of the last follow-up assessments and will be based on the intention-to-treat principle. The trial is funded by the NHS National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit Programme. Data collection will be complete by the end of 2014. This will be the first controlled test of CBT-I for patients with delusions and hallucinations. It will provide significant evidence for an easily administered intervention that is likely to prove very popular with patients experiencing the difficult-to-treat problems of delusions and hallucinations. Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN 33695128.

Elastic Geometry and Storyknifing: A Yup'ik Eskimo Example.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipka, Jerry; Wildfeuer, Sandra; Wahlberg, Nastasia; George, Mary; Ezran, Dafna R.

2001-01-01

Introduces elastic geometry, or topology, into the elementary classroom through the study of connecting the intuitive, visual, and spatial components of storyknifing as well as other everyday and ethnomathematical activities. (ASK)

A Simple Water Channel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, A. S.

1976-01-01

Describes a simple water channel, for use with an overhead projector. It is run from a water tap and may be used for flow visualization experiments, including the effect of streamlining and elementary building aerodynamics. (MLH)

A Comparison between Elementary School Students' Mental Models and Visualizations in Textbooks for the Concept of Atom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polat-Yaseen, Zeynep

2012-01-01

This study was designed for two major goals, which are to describe students' mental models about atom concept from 6th to 8th grade and to compare students' mental models with visual representations of atom in textbooks. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected with 4 open-ended questions including drawings which were quantified using the…

Thinking Maps in Writing Project in English for Taiwanese Elementary School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fan, Yu Shu

2016-01-01

Thinking Maps is a language of eight visual patterns, each based on a fundamental thought process, designed by Dr. David N. Hyerle. The visual patterns are based on cognitive skills and applied in all content areas. Not only are they used in different combinations for depth and complexity, but are also used by all members in the school community.…

Monitoring what is real: The effects of modality and action on accuracy and type of reality monitoring error.

PubMed

Garrison, Jane R; Bond, Rebecca; Gibbard, Emma; Johnson, Marcia K; Simons, Jon S

2017-02-01

Reality monitoring refers to processes involved in distinguishing internally generated information from information presented in the external world, an activity thought to be based, in part, on assessment of activated features such as the amount and type of cognitive operations and perceptual content. Impairment in reality monitoring has been implicated in symptoms of mental illness and associated more widely with the occurrence of anomalous perceptions as well as false memories and beliefs. In the present experiment, the cognitive mechanisms of reality monitoring were probed in healthy individuals using a task that investigated the effects of stimulus modality (auditory vs visual) and the type of action undertaken during encoding (thought vs speech) on subsequent source memory. There was reduced source accuracy for auditory stimuli compared with visual, and when encoding was accompanied by thought as opposed to speech, and a greater rate of externalization than internalization errors that was stable across factors. Interpreted within the source monitoring framework (Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993), the results are consistent with the greater prevalence of clinically observed auditory than visual reality discrimination failures. The significance of these findings is discussed in light of theories of hallucinations, delusions and confabulation. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Homicide during postictal psychosis.

PubMed

Eisenschenk, Stephan; Krop, Harry; Devinsky, Orrin

2014-01-01

Postictal psychosis is characterized by a fluctuating combination of thought disorder, auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, affective change, and aggression including violent behavior. We present a case of homicide following a cluster of seizures. The patient's history and postictal behavior were his consistent with postictal psychosis. Contributing factors resulting in homicide may have included increased seizure frequency associated with a change in his AED regimen seizure frequency. The AED change to levetiracetam may also have increased impulsiveness with diminished mood regulation following discontinuation of carbamazepine. There is evidence that he had a cluster of seizures immediately prior to the murder which may have resulted in the postictal disinhibition of frontal lobe inhibitory systems. This homicide and other violent behaviors associated with postictal psychosis may be avoided with earlier recognition and treatment.

Pathophysiology and treatment of psychosis in Parkinson's disease: a review.

PubMed

Zahodne, Laura B; Fernandez, Hubert H

2008-01-01

Psychotic symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) are relatively common and, in addition to creating a disturbance in patients' daily lives, have consistently been shown to be associated with poor outcome. Our understanding of the pathophysiology of psychosis in PD has expanded dramatically over the past 15 years, from an initial interpretation of symptoms as dopaminergic drug adverse effects to the current view of a complex interplay of extrinsic and disease-related factors.PD psychosis has unique clinical features, namely that it arises within a context of a clear sensorium and retained insight, there is relative prominence of visual hallucinations and progression occurs over time. PD psychosis tends to emerge later in the disease course, and disease duration represents one risk factor for its development. The use of anti-PD medications (particularly dopamine receptor agonists) has been the most widely identified risk factor for PD psychosis. Other risk factors discussed in the literature include older age, disease severity, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment, dementia and/or depression.Recent efforts have aimed to explore the complex pathophysiology of PD psychosis, which is now known to involve an interaction between extrinsic, drug-related and intrinsic, disease-related components. The most important extrinsic factor is use of dopaminergic medication, which plays a prominent role in PD psychosis. Intrinsic factors include visual processing deficits (e.g. lower visual acuity, colour and contrast recognition deficits, ocular pathology and functional brain abnormalities identified amongst hallucinating PD patients); sleep dysregulation (e.g. sleep fragmentation and altered dream phenomena); neurochemical (dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine, etc.) and structural abnormalities involving site-specific Lewy body deposition; and genetics (e.g. apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele and tau H1H1 genotype). Preliminary reports have also shown a potential relationship between deep brain stimulation surgery and PD psychosis.When reduction in anti-PD medications to the lowest tolerated dose does not improve psychosis, further intervention may be warranted. Several atypical antipsychotic agents (i.e. clozapine, olanzapine) have been shown to be efficacious in reducing psychotic symptoms in PD; however, use of clozapine requires cumbersome monitoring and olanzapine leads to motor worsening. Studies of ziprasidone and aripiprazole are limited to open-label trials and case reports and are highly variable; however, it appears that while each may be effective in some patients, both are associated with adverse effects. While quetiapine has not been determined efficacious in two randomized controlled trials, it is a common first-line treatment for PD psychosis because of its tolerability, ease of use and demonstrated utility in numerous open-label reports. Cholinesterase inhibitors currently represent the most promising pharmacological alternative to antipsychotics. Tacrine is rarely tried because of hepatic toxicity, and controlled trials with donepezil have not shown significant reductions in psychotic symptoms, due perhaps to methodological limitations. However, results from an open-label study and a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 188 hallucinating PD patients support the efficacy of rivastigmine. With regard to non-pharmacological interventions, case reports suggest that electroconvulsive therapy has the potential to reduce psychotic symptoms and may be considered in cases involving concurrent depression and/or medication-refractory psychosis. Limited case reports also suggest that specific antidepressants (i.e. clomipramine and citalopram) may improve psychosis in depressed patients. Finally, studies in the schizophrenia literature indicate that psychological approaches are effective in psychosis management but, to date, this strategy has been supported only qualitatively in PD, and further studies are warranted.

Affective Correlates of Psychosis in Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Factor, Stewart A; Scullin, Michael K; Freeman, Alan; Bliwise, Donald L; McDonald, William M; Goldstein, Felicia C

2017-01-01

To examine the nature of the association between affective disorders and psychosis in Parkinson's disease (PD). In PD, psychosis and affective disorders are common and independently impact quality of life and mortality. Both depression and psychosis are correlated with the occurrence of cognitive dysfunction, suggesting that they may share neurobiological substrates. Anxiety has not been examined as a correlate of psychosis. 144 PD subjects were evaluated with the Schedule for Assessment of Positive Symptoms to assess psychotic features, while depression and anxiety were examined by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR (SCID) and self-assessment scales Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Correlational analyses assessed associations between hallucinations and delusions with depression and anxiety. A diagnosis of anxiety (SCID) was significantly (p=.015) associated with hallucinations (OR=4.81, CI=1.36-16.99). Severity of anxiety (BAI) significantly predicted (p=.03) the presence of hallucinations (OR=1.08, CI=1.01-1.15) and delusions (OR=1.09, CR=1.01-1.17). Current depression (SCID) was significantly (p=.001) associated with the presence of hallucinations (OR=6.12, CI=2.04-18.39) and delusions (OR=7.14, CI=2.23-22.93). Multiple linear regressions revealed that severity of anxiety remained an independent predictor (p<.05) of both the number of types of hallucinations (t=3.06, p=.003) and delusions (t=2.87, p=.005). Severity of depression was a significant predictor of the total number of delusions (t=2.28, p=.024). This study demonstrates an association between depression and psychosis and, for the first time, an association between anxiety and psychosis. These associations may have implications on pathophysiology and treatment of psychosis in PD.

EEG theta power and coherence to octave illusion in first-episode paranoid schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations.

PubMed

Zheng, Leilei; Chai, Hao; Yu, Shaohua; Xu, You; Chen, Wanzhen; Wang, Wei

2015-01-01

The exact mechanism behind auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia remains unknown. A corollary discharge dysfunction hypothesis has been put forward, but it requires further confirmation. Electroencephalography (EEG) of the Deutsch octave illusion might offer more insight, by demonstrating an abnormal cerebral activation similar to that under auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients. We invited 23 first-episode schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations and 23 healthy participants to listen to silence and two sound sequences, which consisted of alternating 400- and 800-Hz tones. EEG spectral power and coherence values of different frequency bands, including theta rhythm (3.5-7.5 Hz), were computed using 32 scalp electrodes. Task-related spectral power changes and task-related coherence differences were also calculated. Clinical characteristics of patients were rated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. After both sequences of octave illusion, the task-related theta power change values of frontal and temporal areas were significantly lower, and the task-related theta coherence difference values of intrahemispheric frontal-temporal areas were significantly higher in schizophrenic patients than in healthy participants. Moreover, the task-related power change values in both hemispheres were negatively correlated and the task-related coherence difference values in the right hemisphere were positively correlated with the hallucination score in schizophrenic patients. We only tested the Deutsch octave illusion in primary schizophrenic patients with acute first episode. Further studies might adopt other illusions or employ other forms of schizophrenia. Our results showed a lower activation but higher connection within frontal and temporal areas in schizophrenic patients under octave illusion. This suggests an oversynchronized but weak frontal area to exert an action to the ipsilateral temporal area, which supports the corollary discharge dysfunction hypothesis. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The effects of auditory hallucination symptom management programme for people with schizophrenia: a quasi-experimental design.

PubMed

Yang, Chiu-Yueh; Lee, Tien-Hao; Lo, Su-Chen; Beckstead, Jason W

2015-12-01

To examine the effectiveness of an auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Thirty per cent of chronic schizophrenia patients are still disturbed by hallucinations, which influence their psychological and social well-being, even when they take medication regularly. Fifty-eight people experiencing schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations from psychiatric inpatient rehabilitation wards in northern Taiwan participated in the study, with 29 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group. The experimental group received an auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme. The auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme involved 60-minute meetings once a week, for a total of 10 meetings. The control group received routine care, which included free recreation for 40 minutes and walking for 20 minutes. The participants completed three self-report questionnaires: the Beck Depressive Inventory II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations Questionnaire. Data were collected at baseline, immediately following the intervention and at 3 months and 6 months post intervention. Data collection occurred between March 2010-May 2013. The experimental group showed a non-significant improvement in anxiety symptoms over time. Generalized estimating equations revealed that the experimental group achieved a greater drop in Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations Questionnaire score than the controls at three and 6 months post intervention. Beck Depressive Inventory II scores in the experimental group (n = 29) had significantly improved in 3 months. The auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme seems to be effective in improving auditory hallucinatory symptoms and depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A differentiating empirical linguistic analysis of dreamer activity in reports of EEG-controlled REM-dreams and hypnagogic hallucinations.

PubMed

Speth, Jana; Frenzel, Clemens; Voss, Ursula

2013-09-01

We present Activity Analysis as a new method for the quantification of subjective reports of altered states of consciousness with regard to the indicated level of simulated motor activity. Empirical linguistic activity analysis was conducted with dream reports conceived immediately after EEG-controlled periods of hypnagogic hallucinations and REM-sleep in the sleep laboratory. Reports of REM-dreams exhibited a significantly higher level of simulated physical dreamer activity, while hypnagogic hallucinations appear to be experienced mostly from the point of passive observer. This study lays the groundwork for clinical research on the level of simulated activity in pathologically altered states of subjective experience, for example in the REM-dreams of clinically depressed patients, or in intrusions and dreams of patients diagnosed with PTSD. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Visual Search Load Effects on Age-Related Cognitive Decline: Evidence From the Yakumo Longitudinal Study.

PubMed

Hatta, Takeshi; Kato, Kimiko; Hotta, Chie; Higashikawa, Mari; Iwahara, Akihiko; Hatta, Taketoshi; Hatta, Junko; Fujiwara, Kazumi; Nagahara, Naoko; Ito, Emi; Hamajima, Nobuyuki

2017-01-01

The validity of Bucur and Madden's (2010) proposal that an age-related decline is particularly pronounced in executive function measures rather than in elementary perceptual speed measures was examined via the Yakumo Study longitudinal database. Their proposal suggests that cognitive load differentially affects cognitive abilities in older adults. To address their proposal, linear regression coefficients of 104 participants were calculated individually for the digit cancellation task 1 (D-CAT1), where participants search for a given single digit, and the D-CAT3, where they search for 3 digits simultaneously. Therefore, it can be conjectured that the D-CAT1 represents primarily elementary perceptual speed and low-visual search load task. whereas the D-CAT3 represents primarily executive function and high-visual search load task. Regression coefficients from age 65 to 75 for the D-CAT3 showed a significantly steeper decline than that for the D-CAT1, and a large number of participants showed this tendency. These results support the proposal by Brcur and Madden (2010) and suggest that the degree of cognitive load affects age-related cognitive decline.

ELECTROMAGNETIC PHENOMENA WHICH RADIATE FROM THE HUMAN BRAIN DURING INTENSE PSYCHOSENSORIAL ACTIVITY FROM DREAMY, HALLUCINATORY AND TELEPSYCHIC STATES,

DTIC Science & Technology

intense psychosensorial activity (oneirism, hallucinations, telepsychism). Oneirism is the peculiar psychic condition that is favorable to dreams ...normal hallucinatory phenomena during the sleep and dream -like stages of the beginning sleep and of the reverie. As hallucinations, are designated as the...whole gamut of subjective metapsychics (cryptesthesia, spontaneous or pragmatic; lucidity: clairvoyance: telepathy ; rhabdomancy; radiesthesia; graphonomy; cartomancy; chiromancy). (Author)

Symptoms of Depression, Positive Symptoms of Psychosis, and Suicidal Ideation Among Adults Diagnosed With Schizophrenia Within the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness.

PubMed

Bornheimer, Lindsay A; Jaccard, James

2017-01-01

Suicide is among leading causes of death for adults diagnosed with schizophrenia. While symptoms of depression are consistently supported factors involved in suicidal ideation, findings on the role of positive symptoms of psychosis have been mixed with limited understandings of risk. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify the pathways of influence between symptoms of depression, positive symptoms of psychosis (i.e. hallucinations and delusions), and suicidal ideation. Data were obtained from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE; n = 1,460). Suicidal ideation and symptoms of depression were measured by the Calgary Depression Scale (CDRS) and hallucinations and delusions by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). As symptoms of depression and positive symptoms of psychosis independently increased, on average there were associated increases in suicidal ideation. The present study provides support for the relationship between positive symptoms of psychosis, specifically hallucinations and delusions, and suicidal ideation. Future prospective longitudinal study designs are needed to further increase understandings of the roles that hallucinations, delusions, and additional symptoms of schizophrenia play in both suicidal ideation and attempt to ultimately inform evidence-based interventions aiming to reduce suicidal death.

Abnormal Degree Centrality of Bilateral Putamen and Left Superior Frontal Gyrus in Schizophrenia with Auditory Hallucinations: A Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

PubMed Central

Chen, Cheng; Wang, Hui-Ling; Wu, Shi-Hao; Huang, Huan; Zou, Ji-Lin; Chen, Jun; Jiang, Tian-Zi; Zhou, Yuan; Wang, Gao-Hua

2015-01-01

Background: Dysconnectivity hypothesis of schizophrenia has been increasingly emphasized. Recent researches showed that this dysconnectivity might be related to occurrence of auditory hallucination (AH). However, there is still no consistent conclusion. This study aimed to explore intrinsic dysconnectivity pattern of whole-brain functional networks at voxel level in schizophrenic with AH. Methods: Auditory hallucinated patients group (n = 42 APG), no hallucinated patients group (n = 42 NPG) and normal controls (n = 84 NCs) were analyzed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The functional connectivity metrics index (degree centrality [DC]) across the entire brain networks was calculated and evaluated among three groups. Results: DC decreased in the bilateral putamen and increased in the left superior frontal gyrus in all the patients. However, in APG, the changes of DC were more obvious compared with NPG. Symptomology scores were negatively correlated with the DC of bilateral putamen in all patients. AH score of APG positively correlated with the DC in left superior frontal gyrus but negatively correlated with the DC in bilateral putamen. Conclusion: Our findings corroborated that schizophrenia was characterized by functional dysconnectivity, and the abnormal DC in bilateral putamen and left superior frontal gyrus might be crucial in the occurrence of AH. PMID:26612293

Interhemispheric transfer time in patients with auditory hallucinations: an auditory event-related potential study.

PubMed

Henshall, Katherine R; Sergejew, Alex A; McKay, Colette M; Rance, Gary; Shea, Tracey L; Hayden, Melissa J; Innes-Brown, Hamish; Copolov, David L

2012-05-01

Central auditory processing in schizophrenia patients with a history of auditory hallucinations has been reported to be impaired, and abnormalities of interhemispheric transfer have been implicated in these patients. This study examined interhemispheric functional connectivity between auditory cortical regions, using temporal information obtained from latency measures of the auditory N1 evoked potential. Interhemispheric Transfer Times (IHTTs) were compared across 3 subject groups: schizophrenia patients who had experienced auditory hallucinations, schizophrenia patients without a history of auditory hallucinations, and normal controls. Pure tones and single-syllable words were presented monaurally to each ear, while EEG was recorded continuously. IHTT was calculated for each stimulus type by comparing the latencies of the auditory N1 evoked potential recorded contralaterally and ipsilaterally to the ear of stimulation. The IHTTs for pure tones did not differ between groups. For word stimuli, the IHTT was significantly different across the 3 groups: the IHTT was close to zero in normal controls, was highest in the AH group, and was negative (shorter latencies ipsilaterally) in the nonAH group. Differences in IHTTs may be attributed to transcallosal dysfunction in the AH group, but altered or reversed cerebral lateralization in nonAH participants is also possible. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exploring the Impact of Phonological Awareness, Visual-Spatial Working Memory, and Preschool Quantity--Number Competencies on Mathematics Achievement in Elementary School: Findings from a 3-year Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krajewski, Kristin; Schneider, Wolfgang

2009-01-01

This longitudinal study explored the importance of kindergarten measures of phonological awareness, working memory, and quantity-number competencies (QNC) for predicting mathematical school achievement in third graders (mean age 8 years 8 months). It was found that the impact of phonological awareness and visual-spatial working memory, assessed at…

Differences in Clinical Features of Methamphetamine Users with Persistent Psychosis and Patients with Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Wang, Liang-Jen; Lin, Shih-Ku; Chen, Yi-Chih; Huang, Ming-Chyi; Chen, Tzu-Ting; Ree, Shao-Chun; Chen, Chih-Ken

Methamphetamine exerts neurotoxic effects and elicits psychotic symptoms. This study attempted to compare clinical differences between methamphetamine users with persistent psychosis (MAP) and patients with schizophrenia. In addition, we examined the discrimination validity by using symptom clusters to differentiate between MAP and schizophrenia. We enrolled 53 MAP patients and 53 patients with schizophrenia. The psychopathology of participants was assessed using the Chinese version of the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies and the 18-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Logistic regression was used to examine the predicted probability scores of different symptom combinations on discriminating between MAP and schizophrenia. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and area under the curve (AUC) were further applied to examine the discrimination validity of the predicted probability scores on differentiating between MAP and schizophrenia. We found that MAP and schizophrenia demonstrated similar patterns of delusions. Compared to patients with schizophrenia, MAP experienced significantly higher proportions of visual hallucinations and of somatic or tactile hallucinations. However, MAP exhibited significantly lower severity in conceptual disorganization, mannerism/posturing, blunted affect, emotional withdrawal, and motor retardation compared to patients with schizophrenia. The ROC analysis showed that a predicted probability score combining the aforementioned 7 items of symptoms could significantly differentiate between MAP and schizophrenia (AUC = 0.77). Findings in the current study suggest that nuanced differences might exist in the clinical presentation of secondary psychosis (MAP) and primary psychosis (schizophrenia). Combining the symptoms as a whole may help with differential diagnosis for MAP and schizophrenia. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Inner Speech and Clarity of Self-Concept in Thought Disorder and Auditory-Verbal Hallucinations

PubMed Central

de Sousa, Paulo; Sellwood, William; Spray, Amy; Fernyhough, Charles; Bentall, Richard P.

2016-01-01

Abstract Eighty patients and thirty controls were interviewed using one interview that promoted personal disclosure and another about everyday topics. Speech was scored using the Thought, Language and Communication scale (TLC). All participants completed the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS) and the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ). Patients scored lower than comparisons on the SCCS. Low scores were associated the disorganized dimension of TD. Patients also scored significantly higher on condensed and other people in inner speech, but not on dialogical or evaluative inner speech. The poverty of speech dimension of TD was associated with less dialogical inner speech, other people in inner speech, and less evaluative inner speech. Hallucinations were significantly associated with more other people in inner speech and evaluative inner speech. Clarity of self-concept and qualities of inner speech are differentially associated with dimensions of TD. The findings also support inner speech models of hallucinations. PMID:27898489

Inner Speech and Clarity of Self-Concept in Thought Disorder and Auditory-Verbal Hallucinations.

PubMed

de Sousa, Paulo; Sellwood, William; Spray, Amy; Fernyhough, Charles; Bentall, Richard P

2016-12-01

Eighty patients and thirty controls were interviewed using one interview that promoted personal disclosure and another about everyday topics. Speech was scored using the Thought, Language and Communication scale (TLC). All participants completed the Self-Concept Clarity Scale (SCCS) and the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ). Patients scored lower than comparisons on the SCCS. Low scores were associated the disorganized dimension of TD. Patients also scored significantly higher on condensed and other people in inner speech, but not on dialogical or evaluative inner speech. The poverty of speech dimension of TD was associated with less dialogical inner speech, other people in inner speech, and less evaluative inner speech. Hallucinations were significantly associated with more other people in inner speech and evaluative inner speech. Clarity of self-concept and qualities of inner speech are differentially associated with dimensions of TD. The findings also support inner speech models of hallucinations.

Does adding ketamine to morphine patient-controlled analgesia safely improve post-thoracotomy pain?

PubMed

Mathews, Timothy J; Churchhouse, Antonia M D; Housden, Tessa; Dunning, Joel

2012-02-01

A best evidence topic in thoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was 'is the addition of ketamine to morphine patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) following thoracic surgery superior to morphine alone'. Altogether 201 papers were found using the reported search, of which nine represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. This consisted of one systematic review of PCA morphine with ketamine (PCA-MK) trials, one meta-analysis of PCA-MK trials, four randomized controlled trials of PCA-MK, one meta-analysis of trials using a variety of peri-operative ketamine regimes and two cohort studies of PCA-MK. Main outcomes measured included pain score rated on visual analogue scale, morphine consumption and incidence of psychotomimetic side effects/hallucination. Two papers reported the measurements of respiratory function. This evidence shows that adding ketamine to morphine PCA is safe, with a reported incidence of hallucination requiring intervention of 2.9%, and a meta-analysis finding an incidence of all central nervous system side effects of 18% compared with 15% with morphine alone, P = 0.31, RR 1.27 with 95% CI (0.8-2.01). All randomized controlled trials of its use following thoracic surgery found no hallucination or psychological side effect. All five studies in thoracic surgery (n = 243) found reduced morphine requirements with PCA-MK. Pain scores were significantly lower in PCA-MK patients in thoracic surgery papers, with one paper additionally reporting increased patient satisfaction. However, no significant improvement was found in a meta-analysis of five papers studying PCA-MK in a variety of surgical settings. Both papers reporting respiratory outcomes found improved oxygen saturations and PaCO(2) levels in PCA-MK patients following thoracic surgery. We conclude that adding low-dose ketamine to morphine PCA is safe and post-thoracotomy may provide better pain control than PCA with morphine alone (PCA-MO), with reduced morphine consumption and possible improvement in respiratory function. These studies thus support the routine use of PCA-MK instead of PCA-MO to improve post-thoracotomy pain control.

The contribution of single case studies to the neuroscience of vision.

PubMed

Zihl, Josef; Heywood, Charles A

2016-03-01

Visual neuroscience is concerned with the neurobiological foundations of visual perception, that is, the morphological, physiological, and functional organization of the visual brain and its co-operative partners. One important approach for understanding the functional organization of the visual brain is the study of visual perception from the pathological perspective. The study of patients with focal injury to the visual brain allows conclusions about the representation of visual perceptual functions in the framework of association and dissociation of functions. Selective disorders have been reported for more "elementary" visual capabilities, for example, color and movement vision, but also for visuo-cognitive capacities, such as visual agnosia or the visual field of attention. Because these visual disorders occur rather seldom as selective and specific dysfunctions, single cases have always played, and still play, a significant role in gaining insights into the functional organization of the visual brain. © 2016 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Experiences of hearing voices: analysis of a novel phenomenological survey

PubMed Central

Woods, Angela; Jones, Nev; Alderson-Day, Ben; Callard, Felicity; Fernyhough, Charles

2015-01-01

Summary Background Auditory hallucinations—or voices—are a common feature of many psychiatric disorders and are also experienced by individuals with no psychiatric history. Understanding of the variation in subjective experiences of hallucination is central to psychiatry, yet systematic empirical research on the phenomenology of auditory hallucinations remains scarce. We aimed to record a detailed and diverse collection of experiences, in the words of the people who hear voices themselves. Methods We made a 13 item questionnaire available online for 3 months. To elicit phenomenologically rich data, we designed a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions, which drew on service-user perspectives and approaches from phenomenological psychiatry, psychology, and medical humanities. We invited people aged 16–84 years with experience of voice-hearing to take part via an advertisement circulated through clinical networks, hearing voices groups, and other mental health forums. We combined qualitative and quantitative methods, and used inductive thematic analysis to code the data and χ2 tests to test additional associations of selected codes. Findings Between Sept 9 and Nov 29, 2013, 153 participants completed the study. Most participants described hearing multiple voices (124 [81%] of 153 individuals) with characterful qualities (106 [69%] individuals). Less than half of the participants reported hearing literally auditory voices—70 (46%) individuals reported either thought-like or mixed experiences. 101 (66%) participants reported bodily sensations while they heard voices, and these sensations were significantly associated with experiences of abusive or violent voices (p=0·024). Although fear, anxiety, depression, and stress were often associated with voices, 48 (31%) participants reported positive emotions and 49 (32%) reported neutral emotions. Our statistical analysis showed that mixed voices were more likely to have changed over time (p=0·030), be internally located (p=0·010), and be conversational in nature (p=0·010). Interpretation This study is, to our knowledge, the largest mixed-methods investigation of auditory hallucination phenomenology so far. Our survey was completed by a diverse sample of people who hear voices with various diagnoses and clinical histories. Our findings both overlap with past large-sample investigations of auditory hallucination and suggest potentially important new findings about the association between acoustic perception and thought, somatic and multisensorial features of auditory hallucinations, and the link between auditory hallucinations and characterological entities. Funding Wellcome Trust. PMID:26360085

The effects of using cognitive behavioural therapy to improve sleep for patients with delusions and hallucinations (the BEST study): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Patients with psychosis frequently report difficulties getting or staying asleep (insomnia). Dissatisfaction with sleep is high. Insomnia should be treated in this group, but typically it is not even assessed. Importantly, recent evidence indicates that insomnia triggers and exacerbates delusions and hallucinations. The clinical implication is that if the insomnia is treated then the psychotic symptoms will significantly lessen. In a case series with 15 patients with persecutory delusions resistant to previous treatment this is exactly what we found: cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) led to large reductions in both the insomnia and delusions. The clear next step is a pilot randomized controlled test. The clinical aim is to test whether CBT-I can reduce both insomnia and psychotic symptoms. The trial will inform decisions for a definitive large-scale evaluation. Methods/design We will carry out a randomized controlled trial (the Better Sleep Trial, or the BEST study) with 60 patients with distressing delusions or hallucinations in the context of a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis. Half of the participants will be randomized to receive CBT-I, in addition to their standard treatment, for up to eight sessions over 12 weeks. The other half will continue with treatment as usual. Blind assessments will take place at 0 weeks, 12 weeks (post-treatment) and 24 weeks (follow-up). The primary outcome hypotheses are that CBT-I added to treatment as usual will improve sleep, delusions and hallucinations compared with only treatment as usual. All main analyses will be carried out at the end of the last follow-up assessments and will be based on the intention-to-treat principle. The trial is funded by the NHS National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit Programme. Data collection will be complete by the end of 2014. Discussion This will be the first controlled test of CBT-I for patients with delusions and hallucinations. It will provide significant evidence for an easily administered intervention that is likely to prove very popular with patients experiencing the difficult-to-treat problems of delusions and hallucinations. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN 33695128 PMID:23845104

6 Ways.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Tom; And Others

1982-01-01

Describes six art activities for elementary and secondary art classes. Activities include designing a noise-making machine, the painting of pointillist pictures, drawing street scenes and still life photographs, making visual transparency projections to supplement student art history reports, and doing sketches of popcorn. (AM)

Mainstreaming in Physical Education: Teacher Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Windham, Geraldine M.; And Others

1980-01-01

The authors highlight an inservice approach to mainstreaming elementary and secondary level handicapped students in physical education. Outlined are strategies for individual intervention, for group intervention, for auditory impairments, for visual impairments, for learning disabilities, and for orthopedic impairments. (SBH)

Mindfulness-based Intervention in Elementary School Students With Anxiety and Depression: A Series of n-of-1 Trials on Effects and Feasibility

PubMed Central

Malboeuf-Hurtubise, Catherine; Lacourse, Eric; Herba, Catherine; Taylor, Geneviève; Amor, Leila Ben

2017-01-01

Mindfulness-based interventions constitute a promising option to address anxiety and depression in elementary school students. This study evaluated the effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on anxiety and depression in elementary school students with a diagnosis of anxiety or depression disorder. A single-subject experimental A-B-A design was used. Participants were three elementary school students from grades three and four, along with their teacher. Anxiety and depression were measured on 10 occasions at baseline, during the intervention, and at follow-up. Primary hypotheses were tested using a univariate single case multilevel modeling strategy and visual analysis. Following intervention, 2 participants reported improvements on anxiety and depression, while their teachers reported deteriorating scores on these variables. Results from this n-of-1 trial design is consistent with other work suggesting caution with regard to the overall impact and efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions as a universal treatment option for youth. Future research is warranted. PMID:28853297

[Hallucinogenic fungi (psilocybe). Part II. Identification of Psilocybe semilanceata by PCR].

PubMed

Adamczyk, Aldona; Sadakierska-Chudy, Anna; Janoszka, Jerzy; Rymkiewicz, Apoloniusz; Dobosz, Tadeusz

2007-01-01

Psilocybe semilanceata belongs to the genus of Psilocybe; it is a hallucinogenic fungus, frequently found in regions with high rainfall, in the grass and moss. There are estimated to be as many as eight Psilocybe hallucinogenic species containing psychoactive alkaloids, such as psilocybin and psilocin, which may cause visual, auditory and other hallucinations, as well as profound changes in the perception of time and space. Since identification of P semilanceata in a form different than a fresh mushroom is almost impossible, the authors made an attempt at developing a method of fungi identification based on the PCR technique, which could be helpful in a fight against dangerous consumption of these hallucinogens by the youth. Detection of the specific DNA sequence for P semilanceata brought good results; the test may be commonly employed in forensic practice in the future.

External Carotid-Internal Jugular Fistula as a Late Complication After Carotid Endarterectomy: A Rare Case

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bakar, Bulent, E-mail: bulentbanrs@yahoo.com; Cekirge, Saruhan; Tekkok, Ismail Hakki

2011-02-15

A 66-year-old man presented with mild amnesia, progressive fatigue, ataxia, visual hallucinations, and debility. His past medical history included right-sided carotid endarterectomy performed elsewhere 6 years previously. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed left parieto-occipital arteriovenous malformation-like tortous vessels, venous congestion, and ischemic areas. Cerebral angiography showed right-sided compound external carotid artery-internal jugular vein (IJV) fistula, and distal occlusion of the right IJV. Transvenous embolization via contralateral IJV was performed, and the fistula, together with fistulous portion of the distal IJV, was sealed using coils. Two years later, patient is well with normal neurologic examination findings. The presence of an arteriovenousmore » communication after vascular surgery is a serious complication with potential long-term effects and therefore should be diagnosed and treated as promptly as possible.« less

Factors affecting compliance and resistance to auditory command hallucinations: perceptions of a clinical population.

PubMed

Barrowcliff, Alastair L; Haddock, Gillian

2010-12-01

Elements of voice content and characteristics of a hallucinatory voice are considered to be associated with compliance and resistance to auditory command hallucinations. However, a need for further exploration of such features remains. To explore the associations across different types of commands (benign, self-harm, harm-other) with a range of symptom measures and a trait measure of expressed compliance with compliance to the most recent command and command hallucinations over the previous 28 days. Participants meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, with auditory hallucinations in the previous 28 days were screened. Where commands were reported a full-assessment of positive symptoms, social-rank, beliefs about voices and trait compliance was completed. Compliance with the last self-harm command was associated with elevated voice malevolence, heightened symptom presentation and perceived consequences for non-compliance. Compliance with the last harm-other command was associated with elevated symptom severity, higher perceived consequences for non-compliance and higher levels of voice social rank. However, these associations were not maintained for compliance during the previous 28 days. Findings indicate the importance of identifying the content of commands, overall symptom severity and core variables associated with compliance to specific command categories. The temporal stability of established mediating variables needs further examination.

The Role of Visual Processing Speed in Reading Speed Development

PubMed Central

Lobier, Muriel; Dubois, Matthieu; Valdois, Sylviane

2013-01-01

A steady increase in reading speed is the hallmark of normal reading acquisition. However, little is known of the influence of visual attention capacity on children's reading speed. The number of distinct visual elements that can be simultaneously processed at a glance (dubbed the visual attention span), predicts single-word reading speed in both normal reading and dyslexic children. However, the exact processes that account for the relationship between the visual attention span and reading speed remain to be specified. We used the Theory of Visual Attention to estimate visual processing speed and visual short-term memory capacity from a multiple letter report task in eight and nine year old children. The visual attention span and text reading speed were also assessed. Results showed that visual processing speed and visual short term memory capacity predicted the visual attention span. Furthermore, visual processing speed predicted reading speed, but visual short term memory capacity did not. Finally, the visual attention span mediated the effect of visual processing speed on reading speed. These results suggest that visual attention capacity could constrain reading speed in elementary school children. PMID:23593117

The role of visual processing speed in reading speed development.

PubMed

Lobier, Muriel; Dubois, Matthieu; Valdois, Sylviane

2013-01-01

A steady increase in reading speed is the hallmark of normal reading acquisition. However, little is known of the influence of visual attention capacity on children's reading speed. The number of distinct visual elements that can be simultaneously processed at a glance (dubbed the visual attention span), predicts single-word reading speed in both normal reading and dyslexic children. However, the exact processes that account for the relationship between the visual attention span and reading speed remain to be specified. We used the Theory of Visual Attention to estimate visual processing speed and visual short-term memory capacity from a multiple letter report task in eight and nine year old children. The visual attention span and text reading speed were also assessed. Results showed that visual processing speed and visual short term memory capacity predicted the visual attention span. Furthermore, visual processing speed predicted reading speed, but visual short term memory capacity did not. Finally, the visual attention span mediated the effect of visual processing speed on reading speed. These results suggest that visual attention capacity could constrain reading speed in elementary school children.

Reducing Aggressive Male Behavior in Elementary School: Promising Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Barbara; Gibson, Jamel; Morrison-Danner, Dietrich

2014-01-01

Student aggression and violent behavior, especially among males, is pervasive and problematic in the classroom. When incorporated in the lesson design, promising practices (music, movement, and visual stimulation) are evidence-based strategies that may reduce male aggression in the classroom.

Effects of the Chemical Defense Antidote Atropine Sulfate on Helicopter Pilot Performance: An In-Flight Study

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-01

reported minor hallucinations . Digging ;,rt -,-,7in -e wis degraded overall and number facility was impaired en the aiernoon of the atropine day...at higher doses; 4) loss of coordination with doses higher than 10 mg; and 5) hallucinations with very large doses of atropine. Longo’s (1966) review...diopter of refractive error, possessed normal hearing , and was between the ages of 24 and 32 (mean=29.1). Each one received a complete physical

Khat-induced hypnagogic hallucinations.

PubMed

Granek, M; Shalev, A; Weingarten, A M

1988-10-01

Khat is a plant whose leaves are chewed for their stimulating effect. This effect is attributed to cathinone, an alkaloid identical to dextroamphetamine. Khat chewing is widespread among eastern African and Yemenite populations and is believed to be innocuous. Our experience shows, however, that a substantial number of chronic khat chewers experience persistent hypnagogic hallucinations - a symptom that has not yet been described. Three vignettes illustrates this phenomena, which often interferes with psychiatric diagnosis. Different explanatory models are discussed, among them chronic suppression of REM sleep.

The psychosis spectrum in Parkinson disease

PubMed Central

ffytche, Dominic H.; Creese, Byron; Politis, Marios; Chaudhuri, K. Ray; Weintraub, Daniel; Ballard, Clive; Aarsland, Dag

2017-01-01

In 2007, the clinical and research profile of illusions, hallucinations, delusions and related symptoms in Parkinson disease (PD) was raised with the publication of a consensus definition of PD psychosis. Symptoms that were previously deemed benign and clinically insignificant were incorporated into a continuum of severity, leading to the rapid expansion of literature focusing on clinical aspects, mechanisms and treatment. Here, we review this literature and the evolving view of PD psychosis. Key topics include the prospective risk of dementia in individuals with PD psychosis, and the causal and modifying effects of PD medication. We discuss recent developments, including recognition of an increase in the prevalence of psychosis with disease duration, addition of new visual symptoms to the psychosis continuum, and identification of frontal executive, visual perceptual and memory dysfunction at different disease stages. In addition, we highlight novel risk factors — for example, autonomic dysfunction — that have emerged from prospective studies, structural MRI evidence of frontal, parietal, occipital and hippocampal involvement, and approval of pimavanserin for the treatment of PD psychosis. The accumulating evidence raises novel questions and directions for future research to explore the clinical management and biomarker potential of PD psychosis. PMID:28106066

An Art Activity Guide for Teachers of Severely Handicapped.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burst, Judy; And Others

This manual presents 48 visual art activities developed for severely disabled elementary and secondary school students. Brief explanations are presented for several handicapping conditions (cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome, microcephaly, hydrocephaly, and communication handicaps), and information is given for positioning of students and…

Hearing voices in the resting brain: A review of intrinsic functional connectivity research on auditory verbal hallucinations

PubMed Central

Alderson-Day, Ben; McCarthy-Jones, Simon; Fernyhough, Charles

2018-01-01

Resting state networks (RSNs) are thought to reflect the intrinsic functional connectivity of brain regions. Alterations to RSNs have been proposed to underpin various kinds of psychopathology, including the occurrence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). This review outlines the main hypotheses linking AVH and the resting state, and assesses the evidence for alterations to intrinsic connectivity provided by studies of resting fMRI in AVH. The influence of hallucinations during data acquisition, medication confounds, and movement are also considered. Despite a large variety of analytic methods and designs being deployed, it is possible to conclude that resting connectivity in the left temporal lobe in general and left superior temporal gyrus in particular are disrupted in AVH. There is also preliminary evidence of atypical connectivity in the default mode network and its interaction with other RSNs. Recommendations for future research include the adoption of a common analysis protocol to allow for more overlapping datasets and replication of intrinsic functional connectivity alterations. PMID:25956256

Dopamine agonists and delusional jealousy in Parkinson's disease: a cross-sectional prevalence study.

PubMed

Poletti, Michele; Perugi, Giulio; Logi, Chiara; Romano, Anna; Del Dotto, Paolo; Ceravolo, Roberto; Rossi, Giuseppe; Pepe, Pasquale; Dell'Osso, Liliana; Bonuccelli, Ubaldo

2012-11-01

Delusional jealousy (DJ) has been described in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) on dopaminergic therapy, but a role for dopaminergic therapy in DJ has not been established. The current cross-sectional study on DJ investigated its association with dopaminergic therapies compared with their associations with hallucinations and its prevalence in PD patients. Eight hundred five consecutive patients with PD were enrolled between January 2009 and June 2010. DJ was identified in 20 patients (2.48%) and hallucinations in 193 patients (23.98%). In the multivariate logistic regression analyses, dopamine agonists were significantly associated with DJ (odds ratio, 18.1; 95% CI, 3.0-infinity; P = .0002) but not with hallucinations (odds ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.49-1.10; P = .133). These findings suggest that dopamine agonist treatment represents a risk factor for DJ in PD independent of the presence of a dementing disorder, and the presence of this additional nonmotor side effect should be investigated in this clinical population. Copyright © 2012 Movement Disorder Society.

Religious psychopathology: The prevalence of religious content of delusions and hallucinations in mental disorder

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background: Religious themes are commonly encountered in delusions and hallucinations associated with major mental disorders, and the form and content of presentation are significant in relation to both diagnosis and management. Aims: This study aimed to establish what is known about the frequency of occurrence of religious delusions (RD) and religious hallucinations (RH) and their inter-relationship. Methods: A review was undertaken of the quantitative empirical English literature on RD and RH. Results: A total of 55 relevant publications were identified. The lack of critical criteria for defining and classifying RD and RH makes comparisons between studies difficult, but prevalence clearly varies with time and place, and probably also according to personal religiosity. In particular, little is known about the content and frequency of RH and the relationship between RH and RD. Conclusion: Clearer research criteria are needed to facilitate future study of RD and RH, and more research is needed on the relationship between RD and RH. PMID:25770205

Steroid-Responsive Chronic Schizophreniform Syndrome in the Context of Mildly Increased Antithyroid Peroxidase Antibodies.

PubMed

Endres, Dominique; Perlov, Evgeniy; Riering, Anne Nicole; Maier, Viktoria; Stich, Oliver; Dersch, Rick; Venhoff, Nils; Erny, Daniel; Mader, Irina; Tebartz van Elst, Ludger

2017-01-01

Schizophreniform syndromes can be divided into primary forms from polygenic causes or secondary forms due to immunological, epileptiform, monogenic, or degenerative causes. Steroid-responsive encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT) is a secondary immunological form associated with increased thyroid antibodies, such as antithyroid peroxidase antibodies and shows a good response to corticosteroids. We present the case of a 41-year-old woman suffering from a schizophreniform syndrome. Starting at the age of 35, she developed psychotic exacerbations with formal thought disorder, acoustic hallucinations, cenesthopathic experiences, and loss of ego boundaries. At the same time, she began to suffer from chronic sexual delusions and olfactory hallucinations, which did not respond to neuroleptic medication. Her levels of antithyroid peroxidase antibodies were slightly increased, and the blood-brain barrier was disturbed. An electroencephalogram (EEG) showed intermittent generalized slowing, and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) depicted mild temporolateral atrophy. High-dose corticosteroid treatment led to convincing improvement of attentional performance and the disappearance of delusions and olfactory hallucinations. SREAT can mimic typical symptoms of schizophreniform syndromes. The increased titer of antithyroid peroxidase antibodies in combination with the EEG slowing, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and the cMRI alterations were the basis for suspecting an immunological cause in our patient. Chronic delusions, olfactory hallucinations, and cognitive deficits were successfully treated with corticosteroids. The occurrence of secondary immunological forms of schizophreniform syndromes demonstrates the need for innovative immunosuppressive treatment options.

NBOMe and 2C substitute phenylethylamine exposures reported to the National Poison Data System.

PubMed

Srisuma, Sahaphume; Bronstein, Alvin C; Hoyte, Christopher O

2015-01-01

Hallucinogenic designer drugs, especially NBOMe and the 2C substitute phenylethylamine series, have been increasing ubiquitous in past years. The purpose of this study is to characterize and compare clinical features of NBOMe and 2C exposures in humans. This is a retrospective cohort study of all single agent exposures to NBOMe and 2C substitute phenylethlamine reported to the National Poison Data System (NPDS) from 1st September 2012 to 30th September 2014. Over the study period, there were a total 341 cases including 148 NBOMe exposures and 193 2C exposures. The majority cases involved men (73.9%); median age was 18 years (Interquartile-range, 16-21). Similar clinical effects were reported in both groups including tachycardia (45.2%), agitation/irritable (44.3%), hallucination/delusion (32.0%), confusion (19.1%) and hypertension (18.5%). There were higher incidences of hallucination/delusion, single episode seizure and benzodiazepine administration in NBOMe exposures (40.5%, 8.8% and 50.0%respectively) than those of 2C exposures (25.4%, 3.1%, and 32.6% respectively). There were 2.3% death; no difference between two groups. The higher rate of symptoms in NBOMe is consistent with the higher 5HT2A agonistic effects of NBOMe described in both molecular and animal studies. Common clinical effects of NBOMe and 2C exposures were tachycardia, agitation/irritable, hallucination/delusion, confusion, and hypertension. There were higher incidences of hallucination/delusion, single episode seizure and benzodiazepine administration in NBOMe.

Abnormal synchrony and effective connectivity in patients with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations

PubMed Central

de la Iglesia-Vaya, Maria; Escartí, Maria José; Molina-Mateo, Jose; Martí-Bonmatí, Luis; Gadea, Marien; Castellanos, Francisco Xavier; Aguilar García-Iturrospe, Eduardo J.; Robles, Montserrat; Biswal, Bharat B.; Sanjuan, Julio

2014-01-01

Auditory hallucinations (AH) are the most frequent positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Hallucinations have been related to emotional processing disturbances, altered functional connectivity and effective connectivity deficits. Previously, we observed that, compared to healthy controls, the limbic network responses of patients with auditory hallucinations differed when the subjects were listening to emotionally charged words. We aimed to compare the synchrony patterns and effective connectivity of task-related networks between schizophrenia patients with and without AH and healthy controls. Schizophrenia patients with AH (n = 27) and without AH (n = 14) were compared with healthy participants (n = 31). We examined functional connectivity by analyzing correlations and cross-correlations among previously detected independent component analysis time courses. Granger causality was used to infer the information flow direction in the brain regions. The results demonstrate that the patterns of cortico-cortical functional synchrony differentiated the patients with AH from the patients without AH and from the healthy participants. Additionally, Granger-causal relationships between the networks clearly differentiated the groups. In the patients with AH, the principal causal source was an occipital–cerebellar component, versus a temporal component in the patients without AH and the healthy controls. These data indicate that an anomalous process of neural connectivity exists when patients with AH process emotional auditory stimuli. Additionally, a central role is suggested for the cerebellum in processing emotional stimuli in patients with persistent AH. PMID:25379429

Prediction of activation patterns preceding hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia using machine learning with structured sparsity.

PubMed

de Pierrefeu, Amicie; Fovet, Thomas; Hadj-Selem, Fouad; Löfstedt, Tommy; Ciuciu, Philippe; Lefebvre, Stephanie; Thomas, Pierre; Lopes, Renaud; Jardri, Renaud; Duchesnay, Edouard

2018-04-01

Despite significant progress in the field, the detection of fMRI signal changes during hallucinatory events remains difficult and time-consuming. This article first proposes a machine-learning algorithm to automatically identify resting-state fMRI periods that precede hallucinations versus periods that do not. When applied to whole-brain fMRI data, state-of-the-art classification methods, such as support vector machines (SVM), yield dense solutions that are difficult to interpret. We proposed to extend the existing sparse classification methods by taking the spatial structure of brain images into account with structured sparsity using the total variation penalty. Based on this approach, we obtained reliable classifying performances associated with interpretable predictive patterns, composed of two clearly identifiable clusters in speech-related brain regions. The variation in transition-to-hallucination functional patterns not only from one patient to another but also from one occurrence to the next (e.g., also depending on the sensory modalities involved) appeared to be the major difficulty when developing effective classifiers. Consequently, second, this article aimed to characterize the variability within the prehallucination patterns using an extension of principal component analysis with spatial constraints. The principal components (PCs) and the associated basis patterns shed light on the intrinsic structures of the variability present in the dataset. Such results are promising in the scope of innovative fMRI-guided therapy for drug-resistant hallucinations, such as fMRI-based neurofeedback. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Corticobasal degeneration initially developing motor versus non-motor symptoms: a comparative clinicopathological study.

PubMed

Ikeda, Chikako; Yokota, Osamu; Nagao, Shigeto; Ishizu, Hideki; Morisada, Yumi; Terada, Seishi; Nakashima, Yoshihiko; Akiyama, Haruhiko; Uchitomi, Yosuke

2014-09-01

Clinical presentations of pathologically confirmed corticobasal degeneration (CBD) vary, and the heterogeneity makes its clinical diagnosis difficult, especially when a patient lacks any motor disturbance in the early stage. We compared clinical and pathological features of four pathologically confirmed CBD cases that initially developed non-motor symptoms, including behavioural and psychiatric symptoms but without motor disturbance (CBD-NM), and five CBD cases that initially developed parkinsonism and/or falls (CBD-M). The age range at death for the CBD-NM and CBD-M subjects (58-85 years vs 45-67 years) and the range of disease duration (2-18 years vs 2-6 years) did not significantly differ between the groups. Prominent symptoms in the early stage of CBD-NM cases included self-centred behaviours such as frontotemporal dementia (n = 1), apathy with and without auditory hallucination (n = 2), and aggressive behaviours with delusion and visual hallucination (n = 1). Among the four CBD-NM cases, only one developed asymmetric motor disturbance, and two could walk without support throughout the course. Final clinical diagnoses of the CBD-NM cases were frontotemporal dementia (n = 2), senile psychosis with delirium (n = 1), and schizophrenia (n = 1). Neuronal loss was significantly less severe in the subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra in the CBD-NM cases than in the CBD-M cases. The severity of tau pathology in all regions examined was comparable in the two groups. CBD cases that initially develop psychiatric and behavioural changes without motor symptoms may have less severe degenerative changes in the subthalamic nucleus and substantia nigra, and some CBD cases can lack motor disturbance not only in the early stage but also in the last stage of the course. © 2014 The Authors. Psychogeriatrics © 2014 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.

Verbal Rehearsal and Visual Imagery: Mnemonic Aids for Learning-Disabled Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Michael C.; And Others

1983-01-01

Studies involving 30 learning-disabled elementary students support the contention that reading comprehension difficulties among learning-disabled children are partly due to inefficient memorization strategies, and demonstrate the efficacy of practical, cost-effective mnemonic training procedures which significantly increase reading comprehension…

Investigations in Mathematics Education. Volume 16, Number 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Investigations in Mathematics Education, 1983

1983-01-01

Abstracts of 11 mathematics education research studies are provided. Each abstract is accompanied by the abstractor's analysis of or comments about the study. Studies reported include: "The Importance of Spatial Visualization and Cognitive Development for Geometry Learning in Preservice Elementary Teachers"; "Classroom Ratio of High…

Career Education K-6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrence Unified School District 497, KS.

The elementary level career education instructional materials are arranged by grade level. Separate sections are devoted to each level and include an overview of the curriculum with objectives, activities, and resources (speakers, on-site visits, audio visuals, books, and kits) for each subject area covered. Emphasizing career awareness, each…

Direct Observation of Individual Charges and Their Dynamics on Graphene by Low-Energy Electron Holography.

PubMed

Latychevskaia, Tatiana; Wicki, Flavio; Longchamp, Jean-Nicolas; Escher, Conrad; Fink, Hans-Werner

2016-09-14

Visualizing individual charges confined to molecules and observing their dynamics with high spatial resolution is a challenge for advancing various fields in science, ranging from mesoscopic physics to electron transfer events in biological molecules. We show here that the high sensitivity of low-energy electrons to local electric fields can be employed to directly visualize individual charged adsorbates and to study their behavior in a quantitative way. This makes electron holography a unique probing tool for directly visualizing charge distributions with a sensitivity of a fraction of an elementary charge. Moreover, spatial resolution in the nanometer range and fast data acquisition inherent to lens-less low-energy electron holography allows for direct visual inspection of charge transfer processes.

The new patient with a first seizure.

PubMed

King, Mark

2003-04-01

First seizures are common, with one in 20 people suffering a seizure at some time in their life. This article aims to outline the assessment of patients with a first seizure, including making an accurate diagnosis of both seizure type and an epilepsy syndrome, if present. Seizures are classified into generalised and partial (arising from a focal region in the brain) based on clinical and electroencephalogram findings. However, as a partial seizure may proceed to a tonic clonic phase, differentiation may be difficult. Inquiring directly about 'minor' epileptic symptoms before the episode such as absences, myoclonic jerks, visual or auditory hallucinations or feelings of déjà vu, is needed to attempt to make a epilepsy syndrome diagnosis, as this has practical implications for treatment, prognosis and genetic counselling. Generalised epilepsies should be treated initially with valproate, while partial epilepsies should be treated with carbamazepine and switched to newer agents if intolerance occurs.

Rapid-onset obesity with hypothalamic dysfunction, hypoventilation, and autonomic dysregulation (ROHHAD) syndrome may have a hypothalamus-periaqueductal gray localization.

PubMed

Chow, Cristelle; Fortier, Marielle Valerie; Das, Lena; Menon, Anuradha P; Vasanwala, Rashida; Lam, Joyce C M; Ng, Zhi Min; Ling, Simon Robert; Chan, Derrick W S; Choong, Chew Thye; Liew, Wendy K M; Thomas, Terrence

2015-05-01

Anatomical localization of the rapid-onset obesity with hypothalamic dysfunction, hypoventilation, and autonomic dysregulation (ROHHAD) syndrome has proved elusive. Most patients had neuroimaging after cardiorespiratory collapse, revealing a range of ischemic lesions. A 15-year-old obese boy with an acute febrile encephalopathy had hypoventilation, autonomic dysfunction, visual hallucinations, hyperekplexia, and disordered body temperature, and saltwater regulation. These features describe the ROHHAD syndrome. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed pleocytosis, elevated neopterins, and oligoclonal bands, and serology for systemic and antineuronal antibodies was negative. He improved after receiving intravenous steroids, immunoglobulins, and long-term mycophenolate. Screening for neural crest tumors was negative. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain early in his illness showed focal inflammation in the periaqueductal gray matter and hypothalamus. This unique localization explains almost all symptoms of this rare autoimmune encephalitis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quetiapine effective in treatment of inappropriate sexual behavior of lewy body disease with predominant frontal lobe signs.

PubMed

Prakash, Ravi; Pathak, Amit; Munda, Sanjay; Bagati, Dhruv

2009-01-01

Dementia of Lewy body disease is the second most common degenerative cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease, among all the dementias. The core features are a progressive dementia, fluctuations in cognitive functions, visual hallucinations, and spontaneous parkinsonism. Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, severe neuroleptic sensitivity, and low dopamine transporter uptake in basal ganglia are other suggestive features. Behavioral abnormalities are commonly present in the form of aggressive behavior, irritability, and uninhibited behaviors. These are mostly seen in the advanced stages of dementia. However, inappropriate sexual behavior is uncommonly seen in such cases. Three types of inappropriate sexual behaviors commonly found in cases of dementia are sex talks, sexual acts, and implied sexual acts. Such inappropriate sexual behaviors have not been described adequately in dementia of Lewy body disease. We report inappropriate sexual behaviors in a case of dementia of Lewy body disease, which improved rapidly after treatment with quetiapine.

[Diagnosis of seizures originating in the amygdala and the hippocampus].

PubMed

Padró, L; Rovira, R

1998-02-01

Lesions in the hippocampus of some epileptic patients were first described one hundred and seventy years ago. Since then our knowledge of the relationship between epileptic seizures and temporal lobe lesions has greatly improved. The aim of this paper is to systematize the symptomatology of the hippocampus and amygdala seizures. These seizures may have a great number of different clinical features: special 'loss' or 'impairment of consciousness', epileptic automatisms and autonomic changes. Moreover, at the beginning of seizures some patients have reported experiences having subjective qualities similar to those experienced in everyday life. P Gloor named them 'experiential phenomena' and subdivided them into affective (eg: fear), perceptual (eg: visual hallucinations) and mnemonic (eg: 'déjà vu' illusion). It is very important to know the contribution of the hippocampus and the amygdala to the symptomatology of temporal lobe seizures due to the progress of MRI diagnostic possibilities that are improving the surgical outcome.

Musical obsessions: a comprehensive review of neglected clinical phenomena.

PubMed

Taylor, Steven; McKay, Dean; Miguel, Euripedes C; De Mathis, Maria Alice; Andrade, Chittaranjan; Ahuja, Niraj; Sookman, Debbie; Kwon, Jun Soo; Huh, Min Jung; Riemann, Bradley C; Cottraux, Jean; O'Connor, Kieron; Hale, Lisa R; Abramowitz, Jonathan S; Fontenelle, Leonardo F; Storch, Eric A

2014-08-01

Intrusive musical imagery (IMI) consists of involuntarily recalled, short, looping fragments of melodies. Musical obsessions are distressing, impairing forms of IMI that merit investigation in their own right and, more generally, research into these phenomena may broaden our understanding of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which is phenomenologically and etiologically heterogeneous. We present the first comprehensive review of musical obsessions, based on the largest set of case descriptions ever assembled (N=96). Characteristics of musical obsessions are described and compared with normal IMI, musical hallucinations, and visual obsessional imagery. Assessment, differential diagnosis, comorbidity, etiologic hypotheses, and treatments are described. Musical obsessions may be under-diagnosed because they are not adequately assessed by current measures of OCD. Musical obsessions have been misdiagnosed as psychotic phenomena, which has led to ineffective treatment. Accurate diagnosis is important for appropriate treatment. Musical obsessions may respond to treatments that are not recommended for prototypic OCD symptoms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dopaminergic stimulation enhances confidence and accuracy in seeing rapidly presented words.

PubMed

Lou, Hans C; Skewes, Joshua C; Thomsen, Kristine Rømer; Overgaard, Morten; Lau, Hakwan C; Mouridsen, Kim; Roepstorff, Andreas

2011-02-23

Liberal acceptance, overconfidence, and increased activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine have been proposed to account for abnormal sensory experiences, for instance, hallucinations in schizophrenia. In normal subjects, increased sensory experience in Yoga Nidra meditation is linked to striatal dopamine release. We therefore hypothesize that the neurotransmitter dopamine may function as a regulator of subjective confidence of visual perception in the normal brain. Although much is known about the effect of stimulation by neurotransmitters on cognitive functions, their effect on subjective confidence of perception has never been recorded experimentally before. In a controlled study of 24 normal, healthy female university students with the dopamine agonist pergolide given orally, we show that dopaminergic activation increases confidence in seeing rapidly presented words. It also improves performance in a forced-choice word recognition task. These results demonstrate neurotransmitter regulation of subjective conscious experience of perception and provide evidence for a crucial role of dopamine.

Organists and organ music composers.

PubMed

Foerch, Christian; Hennerici, Michael G

2015-01-01

Clinical case reports of patients with exceptional musical talent and education provide clues as to how the brain processes musical ability and aptitude. In this chapter, selected examples from famous and unknown organ players/composers are presented to demonstrate the complexity of modified musical performances as well as the capacities of the brain to preserve artistic abilities: both authors are active organists and academic neurologists with strong clinical experience, practice, and knowledge about the challenges to play such an outstanding instrument and share their interest to explore potentially instrument-related phenomena of brain modulation in specific transient or permanent impairments. We concentrate on the sites of lesions, suggested pathophysiology, separate positive (e.g., seizures, visual or auditory hallucinations, or synesthesia [an involuntary perception produced by stimulation of another sense]) and negative phenomena (e.g., amusia, aphasia, neglect, or sensory-motor deficits) and particularly address aspects of recent concepts of temporary and permanent network disorders. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Brain and psyche in early Christian asceticism.

PubMed

Bradford, David T

2011-10-01

This study is an 11-part investigation of the psychology and neuropsychology of early Christian asceticism as represented by Evagrius Ponticus (AD 345-399), the tradition's first ascetical theologian and possibly its mosfinfluential. Evagrius's biography is reviewed in the first section. The living circuinstaii and perceptual consequences of desert asceticism are considered in the second. Penitence, dispassion, and the mysticism of "pure prayer" are discussed in the third. Austerities are addressed in the fourth section, particularly fasting, prostrations, and prolonged standing. Ascetical perspectives on sleep, dreams, and the hypnogogic state are analyzed in the fifth. The depressive syndrome of acedia is discussed in the sixth. Evagrius's reports of auditory, olfactory, and visual hallucinations are analyzed in the seventh. Multiple complementary interpretations of demonic phenoniena are developed in the eighth section. Evagrius's psychotherapy for anger is reviewed in the ninth. Interpersonal relations among ascetics are considered in the tenth section. The study concludes with a summary.

Relation of tolerance of ambiguity to global and specific paranormal experience.

PubMed

Houran, J; Williams, C

1998-12-01

We examined the relationship of tolerance of ambiguity to severe global factors and specific types of anomalous or paranormal experience. 107 undergraduate students completed MacDonald's 1970 AT-20 and the Anomalous Experiences Inventory of Kumar, Pekala, and Gallagher. Scores on the five subscales of the Anomalous Experiences Inventory correlated differently with tolerance of ambiguity. Global paranormal beliefs, abilities, experiences, and drug use were positively associated with tolerance of ambiguity, whereas a fear of paranormal experience showed a negative relation. The specific types of anomalous experiences that correlated with tolerance of ambiguity often involved internal or physiological experience, e.g., precognitive dreams, memories of reincarnation, visual apparitions, and vestibular alterations. We generally found no effects of age of sex. These results are consistent with the idea that some paranormal experiences are misattributions of internal experience to external ('paranormal') sources, a process analogous to mechanisms underpinning delusions and hallucinations.

The use of lisuride in the treatment of multiple system atrophy with autonomic failure (Shy-Drager syndrome).

PubMed Central

Lees, A J; Bannister, R

1981-01-01

In a controlled trial lisuride, an ergolene derivative with dopamine receptor agonist properties was given maximum tolerated doses (2.4 mg/day) to seven patients with multiple system atrophy with autonomic failure (Shy-Drager syndrome). Improvement in Parkinsonian features occurred in only one patient and another patient who had been deriving marked benefit from levodopa treatment before the study began failed to respond to large doses of lisuride. Psychiatric side effects (including nightmares, isolated visual hallucinations and toxic confusional states) were the dose-limiting factor in six patients. A modest reduction in orthostatic hypotension occurred in two patients, one of whom had experienced an aggravation of this disturbance on levodopa and bromocriptine. Destruction of post-synaptic dopamine receptors and damage to central noradrenergic systems may offer an explanation for the lack of therapeutic effect of lisuride. PMID:7241162

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis presenting as schizophrenia with an alpha coma pattern in a child.

PubMed

Kartal, Ayşe; Kurt, Ayşegül Neşe Çitak; Gürkaş, Esra; Aydin, Kurşad; Serdaroğlu, Ayşe

2014-10-01

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system, can present atypically with uncharacteristic electroencephalographic (EEG) features at its onset albeit typically with progressive mental deterioration, behavioral changes, and myoclonic jerks. An atypical presentation of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis can lead to a delay in diagnosis, thus hindering early treatment. Herein, we describe a 14-year-old girl who presented with insomnia, amnesia, auditory and visual hallucinations. The patient's electroencephalography on admission showed an alpha coma pattern. In spite of antipsychiatric treatment (olanzapine 20 mg/d) for 3 months, a progressive deterioration in neurologic function was observed. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis was suspected and diagnosis was confirmed by increased titers of measles antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid. The attention of pediatricians should be drawn to psychiatric symptoms as possible initial presentations of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in order to avoid needless diagnostic and treatment procedures. © The Author(s) 2013.

Schizophrenia and Leigh syndrome, a simple comorbidity or the same etiopathogeny: about a case.

PubMed

Mnif, Leila; Sellami, Rim; Masmoudi, Jawaher

2015-01-01

Leigh syndrome is a mitochondrial encephalomyopathy that occurs due to "cytochrome c oxidase deficiency". Few psychiatric disorders have been defined that are associated with Leigh syndrome. The objective of this work is to study relations between mitochondrial dysfunction and psychiatric disorders. It was a 20 year old male patient, who received Modopar, for severe extra pyramidal symptoms caused by Leigh syndrome. He developed, four months ago, acute psychotic symptoms such as audio-visual hallucinations, persecution and mystic delirium. The cerebral MRI has shown signal abnormalities in central grey nucleus. The EEG recording and blood test were normal. The hypothesis of drug induced psychiatric disorders (Modopar) was possible. The evolution under atypical antipsychotic was only partial. In this case, the cerebrospinal fluid and lactate levels mean that mitochondria were not an overall explanation for these psychiatric disorders but may at least play a partial role. Psychiatric disorders may just be acomorbidity.

Visual agnosia and focal brain injury.

PubMed

Martinaud, O

Visual agnosia encompasses all disorders of visual recognition within a selective visual modality not due to an impairment of elementary visual processing or other cognitive deficit. Based on a sequential dichotomy between the perceptual and memory systems, two different categories of visual object agnosia are usually considered: 'apperceptive agnosia' and 'associative agnosia'. Impaired visual recognition within a single category of stimuli is also reported in: (i) visual object agnosia of the ventral pathway, such as prosopagnosia (for faces), pure alexia (for words), or topographagnosia (for landmarks); (ii) visual spatial agnosia of the dorsal pathway, such as cerebral akinetopsia (for movement), or orientation agnosia (for the placement of objects in space). Focal brain injuries provide a unique opportunity to better understand regional brain function, particularly with the use of effective statistical approaches such as voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM). The aim of the present work was twofold: (i) to review the various agnosia categories according to the traditional visual dual-pathway model; and (ii) to better assess the anatomical network underlying visual recognition through lesion-mapping studies correlating neuroanatomical and clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Accounting for the phenomenology and varieties of auditory verbal hallucination within a predictive processing framework

PubMed Central

Wilkinson, Sam

2018-01-01

Two challenges that face popular self-monitoring theories (SMTs) of auditory verbal hallucination (AVH) are that they cannot account for the auditory phenomenology of AVHs and that they cannot account for their variety. In this paper I show that both challenges can be met by adopting a predictive processing framework (PPF), and by viewing AVHs as arising from abnormalities in predictive processing. I show how, within the PPF, both the auditory phenomenology of AVHs, and three subtypes of AVH, can be accounted for. PMID:25286243

77 FR 11499 - Applications for New Awards; Technology and Media Services for Individuals With Disabilities...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-27

... media for students who are blind, visually impaired, and print disabled and enrolled in elementary... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Applications for New Awards; Technology and Media Services for Individuals... Education. ACTION: Notice. Overview Information Technology and Media Services for Individuals With...

Guidelines and Recommendations for New Hampshire Public Elementary Schools, Kindergarten--Grade 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Hampshire State Dept. of Education, Concord.

Sections concerned with facilities deal with library services, equipment and facilities for science and physical education, and the school building. Recommendations for library service include check lists and standards pertaining to objectives, basic equipment and supplies, individual classroom collections, audio visual collections, library…

Visual perception from the perspective of a representational, non-reductionistic, level-dependent account of perception and conscious awareness

PubMed Central

Overgaard, Morten; Mogensen, Jesper

2014-01-01

This article proposes a new model to interpret seemingly conflicting evidence concerning the correlation of consciousness and neural processes. Based on an analysis of research of blindsight and subliminal perception, the reorganization of elementary functions and consciousness framework suggests that mental representations consist of functions at several different levels of analysis, including truly localized perceptual elementary functions and perceptual algorithmic modules, which are interconnections of the elementary functions. We suggest that conscious content relates to the ‘top level’ of analysis in a ‘situational algorithmic strategy’ that reflects the general state of an individual. We argue that conscious experience is intrinsically related to representations that are available to guide behaviour. From this perspective, we find that blindsight and subliminal perception can be explained partly by too coarse-grained methodology, and partly by top-down enhancing of representations that normally would not be relevant to action. PMID:24639581

Visualizing Interstellar's Wormhole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, Oliver; von Tunzelmann, Eugénie; Franklin, Paul; Thorne, Kip S.

2015-06-01

Christopher Nolan's science fiction movie Interstellar offers a variety of opportunities for students in elementary courses on general relativity theory. This paper describes such opportunities, including: (i) At the motivational level, the manner in which elementary relativity concepts underlie the wormhole visualizations seen in the movie; (ii) At the briefest computational level, instructive calculations with simple but intriguing wormhole metrics, including, e.g., constructing embedding diagrams for the three-parameter wormhole that was used by our visual effects team and Christopher Nolan in scoping out possible wormhole geometries for the movie; (iii) Combining the proper reference frame of a camera with solutions of the geodesic equation, to construct a light-ray-tracing map backward in time from a camera's local sky to a wormhole's two celestial spheres; (iv) Implementing this map, for example, in Mathematica, Maple or Matlab, and using that implementation to construct images of what a camera sees when near or inside a wormhole; (v) With the student's implementation, exploring how the wormhole's three parameters influence what the camera sees—which is precisely how Christopher Nolan, using our implementation, chose the parameters for Interstellar's wormhole; (vi) Using the student's implementation, exploring the wormhole's Einstein ring and particularly the peculiar motions of star images near the ring, and exploring what it looks like to travel through a wormhole.

Dream features in the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Bugalho, Paulo; Paiva, Teresa

2011-11-01

Few studies have investigated the relation between dream features and cognition in Parkinson's disease (PD), although vivid dreams, hallucinations and cognitive decline have been proposed as successive steps of a pathological continuum. Our objectives were therefore to characterize the dreams of early stage PD and to study the relation between dream characteristics, cognitive function, motor status, depression, dopaminergic treatment, and the presence of REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and hallucinations. Dreams of 19 male PD patients and 21 matched control subjects were classified according to Hall and van de Castle system. h statistics was used to compare the dream content between patients and controls. We tested the relation between patients' dreams characteristics and cognitive function (Frontal assessment battery (FAB) and Mini-Mental State Examination tests) depression (Beck depression inventory), motor function (UPDRS), dopaminergic treatment, the presence of RBD (according to clinical criteria) and hallucinations, using general linear model statistics. Patients and controls differed only on FAB scores. Relevant differences in the Hall and van de Castle scale were found between patient's dreams and those of the control group, regarding animals, aggression/friendliness, physical aggression, befriender (higher in the patient group) and aggressor and bodily misfortunes (lower in the patient group) features. Cognitive and particularly frontal dysfunction had a significant influence on the frequency of physical aggression and animal related features, while dopaminergic doses, depressive symptoms, hallucinations and RBD did not. We found a pattern of dream alteration characterized by heightened aggressiveness and the presence of animals. These were related to more severe frontal dysfunction, which could be the origin of such changes.

Shared Etiology of Psychotic Experiences and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Twin Study

PubMed Central

Eley, Thalia C.; McGuire, Philip; Plomin, Robert; Cardno, Alastair G.; Freeman, Daniel; Ronald, Angelica

2016-01-01

Psychotic disorders and major depression, both typically adult-onset conditions, often co-occur. At younger ages psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms are often reported in the community. We used a genetically sensitive longitudinal design to investigate the relationship between psychotic experiences and depressive symptoms in adolescence. A representative community sample of twins from England and Wales was employed. Self-rated depressive symptoms, paranoia, hallucinations, cognitive disorganization, grandiosity, anhedonia, and parent-rated negative symptoms were collected when the twins were age 16 (N = 9618) and again on a representative subsample 9 months later (N = 2873). Direction and aetiology of associations were assessed using genetically informative cross-lagged models. Depressive symptoms were moderately correlated with paranoia, hallucinations, and cognitive disorganization. Lower correlations were observed between depression and anhedonia, and depression and parent-rated negative symptoms. Nonsignificant correlations were observed between depression and grandiosity. Largely the same genetic effects influenced depression and paranoia, depression and hallucinations, and depression and cognitive disorganization. Modest overlap in environmental influences also played a role in the associations. Significant bi-directional longitudinal associations were observed between depression and paranoia. Hallucinations and cognitive disorganization during adolescence were found to impact later depression, even after controlling for earlier levels of depression. Our study shows that psychotic experiences and depression, as traits in the community, have a high genetic overlap in mid-adolescence. Future research should test the prediction stemming from our longitudinal results, namely that reducing or ameliorating positive and cognitive psychotic experiences in adolescence would decrease later depressive symptoms. PMID:26994398

Auditory/Verbal hallucinations, speech perception neurocircuitry, and the social deafferentation hypothesis.

PubMed

Hoffman, Ralph E

2008-04-01

Auditory/verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are comprised of spoken conversational speech seeming to arise from specific, nonself speakers. One hertz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) reduces excitability in the brain region stimulated. Studies utilizing 1-Hz rTMS delivered to the left temporoparietal cortex, a brain area critical to speech perception, have demonstrated statistically significant improvements in AVHs relative to sham simulation. A novel mechanism of AVHs is proposed whereby dramatic pre-psychotic social withdrawal prompts neuroplastic reorganization by the "social brain" to produce spurious social meaning via hallucinations of conversational speech. Preliminary evidence supporting this hypothesis includes a very high rate of social withdrawal emerging prior to the onset of frank psychosis in patients who develop schizophrenia and AVHs. Moreover, reduced AVHs elicited by temporoparietal 1-Hz rTMS are likely to reflect enhanced long-term depression. Some evidence suggests a loss of long-term depression following experimentally-induced deafferentation. Finally, abnormal cortico-cortical coupling is associated with AVHs and also is a common outcome of deafferentation. Auditory/verbal hallucinations (AVHs) of spoken speech or "voices" are reported by 60-80% of persons with schizophrenia at various times during the course of illness. AVHs are associated with high levels of distress, functional disability, and can lead to violent acts. Among patients with AVHs, these symptoms remain poorly or incompletely responsive to currently available treatments in approximately 25% of cases. For patients with AVHs who do respond to antipsychotic drugs, there is a very high likelihood that these experiences will recur in subsequent episodes. A more precise characterization of underlying pathophysiology may lead to more efficacious treatments.

Kinesthetic Reinforcement-Is It a Boon to Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohrer, Roxilu K.

1970-01-01

Language instruction, particularly in the elementary school, should be reinforced through the use of visual aids and through associated physical activity. Kinesthetic experiences provide an opportunity to make use of non-verbal cues to meaning, enliven classroom activities, and maximize learning for pupils. The author discusses the educational…