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

TLDR: The 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.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: 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. METHOD: 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. RESULTS: Voxel-by-voxel comparison of the median power of subjects' responses to periodic external speech revealed that this ...