Eliciting false auditory perceptions using speech frequencies and semantic priming: a signal detection approach. Issue 4 (4th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Laloyaux, Julien; Hirnstein, Marco; Specht, Karsten; Giersch, Anne; Larøi, Frank
• Is Part Of: Cognitive neuropsychiatry. Volume 27:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: 255
• Page End: 272
• Publication Date: 2022-07-04
• Subjects: Hallucinations -- psychosis -- response bias -- decision bias -- perceptual sensitivity; Neuropsychology -- Periodicals; 616.8
• DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2022.2031945
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1354-6805

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Introduction: Individuals experiencing auditory hallucinations (AH) tend to perceive voices when exposed to random noise. However, the factors driving this tendency remain unclear. The present study examined the interaction of a top-down (expectations) and bottom-up (type of noise) process to better understand the mechanisms that underlie AH. Methods: Fifty-two healthy individuals (29 with high proneness and 23 with low proneness to AH) completed a signal detection task, in which they listened to pre-recorded sentences. The last word was either masked by noise or only noise was presented without the word. Two types of noise existed (speech-related versus speech-unrelated frequencies) and words were characterised by either high or low levels of semantic expectation. Results: Participants with high proneness to AH showed a more liberal decision bias (i.e., they were more likely to report having heard a word) and poorer discrimination ability as compared to participants with low proneness to AH – but only when the word was masked by speech-related noises and the level of expectation was high. Further, the more liberal decision bias correlated negatively with the tendency to experience AH. Conclusion: This novel paradigm demonstrated an interaction between top-down (level of expectation) and bottom-up (type of noise) processes, supporting current theoretical models of AH.