Auditory verbal hallucinations and cognitive functioning in healthy individuals

SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH

卷:132

Article

Daalman, Kirstin^1,2  van Zandvoort, Martine^1,2,3  Bootsman, Florian^1,2  Boks, Marco^1,2,4  Kahn, Rene^1,2  Sommer, Iris^1,2 

[1] Univ Med Ctr Utrecht, Div Neurosci, Dept Psychiat, NL-3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands

[2] Rudolf Magnus Inst Neurosci, NL-3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands

[3] Univ Utrecht, Helmholtz Res Inst, NL-3508 TC Utrecht, Netherlands

[4] Univ Med Ctr Utrecht, Julius Ctr Hlth Sci & Primary Care, NL-3584 CG Utrecht, Netherlands

关键词: Auditory verbal hallucinations;    Non-psychotic individuals;    Cognitive tasks;    Voices;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.schres.2011.07.013

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a characteristic symptom in schizophrenia, and also occur in the general, non-clinical population. In schizophrenia patients, several specific cognitive deficits, such as in speech processing, working memory, source memory, attention, inhibition, episodic memory and self-monitoring have been associated with auditory verbal hallucinations. Such associations are interesting, as they may identify specific cognitive traits that constitute a predisposition for AVH. However, it is difficult to disentangle a specific relation with AVH in patients with schizophrenia, as so many other factors can affect the performance on cognitive tests. Examining the cognitive profile of healthy individuals experiencing AVH may reveal a more direct association between AVH and aberrant cognitive functioning in a specific domain. For the current study, performance in executive functioning, memory (both short- and long-term), processing speed, spatial ability, lexical access, abstract reasoning, language and intelligence performance was compared between 101 healthy individuals with AVH and 101 healthy controls, matched for gender, age, handedness and education. Although performance of both groups was within the normal range, not clinically impaired, significant differences between the groups were found in the verbal domain as well as in executive functioning. Performance on all other cognitive domains was similar in both groups. The predisposition to experience AVH is associated with lower performance in executive functioning and aberrant language performance. This association might be related to difficulties in the inhibition of irrelevant verbal information. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free