04 January 2006
Explaining the mystery of imaginary voices
A new report from the University of Sheffield has helped explain the mystery of why we hear imaginary voices and sounds and has shed new light on why auditory hallucinations occur much more frequently than other hallucinations.
The Wellcome Trust-funded study was led by Dr Michael Hunter and Professor Peter Woodruff from the Academic Department of Psychiatry at the University of Sheffield and was published today in the US journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For the study, researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on volunteers in conditions of total silence. The scans revealed that even during silence, the brain´s speech-sensitive auditory cortex experiences significant episodes of increased activity and seems to trigger spontaneously. This activity implies that the brain is naturally predisposed to hear false sounds during silence.
According to the report, the results suggest that a certain aspect of the brain´s `default mode´ is relatively unstable and therefore prone to this spontaneous activity. These observations may help explain why auditory hallucinations are particularly common in both healthy people and those with mental health problems.
Dr Hunter said: "Our results have provided a fascinating insight into what is actually going on inside the brain´s auditory regions during silence. The MRI scans can help us understand why auditory hallucinations occur even in healthy people, for example when they are drifting off to sleep. This research represents a real development in our understanding of the brain´s activity and could also prove useful in the investigation and treatment of severe psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia."
Notes for Editors: The report, "Neural Activity in Speech-Sensitive Auditory Cortex During Silence", was written by Dr Michael Hunter, Dr Tom Miller, Dr Tom Farrow, Dr Iain Wilkinson and Professor Peter Woodruff from the University of Sheffield and Dr Simon Eickhoff from the Institute for Medicine, Germany.
For further information please contact: Matt Barker at the University of Sheffield press office on 0114 222 1046, or matt.barker@sheffield.ac.uk
« Return to news releases
| 
