Signs of increased cortical hyperexcitability selectively associated with spontaneous anomalous bodily experiences in a nonclinical population

Braithwaite, Jason J and Broglia, Emma and Brincat, Oliver and Stapley, Louise and Wilkins, Arnold J. and Takahashi, Chie (2013) Signs of increased cortical hyperexcitability selectively associated with spontaneous anomalous bodily experiences in a nonclinical population. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 18 (6). pp. 549-573. ISSN 1354-6805

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Abstract

Introduction. The current study examined the presence of cortical hyperexcitability, in nonclinical hallucinators, reporting different forms of anomalous bodily experiences (ABEs). Groups reporting visual out-of-body experiences and nonvisual sensed-presence experiences were examined. It was hypothesised that only those hallucinators whose experiences contained visual elements would show increased signs of visual cortical hyperexcitability. Methods. One hundred and eighty-two participants completed the “Pattern-glare task” (involving the viewing of striped gratings with spatial frequencies irritable to visual cortex)—a task known to reflect degrees of cortical hyperexcitability associated with hallucinatory/aura experiences in neurological samples. Participants also completed questionnaire measures of anomalous “temporal-lobe experience” and predisposition to anomalous visual experiences. Results. Those reporting increased levels of anomalous bodily experiences provided significantly elevated scores on measures of temporal-lobe experience. Only the visual OBE group reported significantly elevated levels of cortical hyperexcitability as assessed by the pattern-glare task. Conclusions. Collectively, the results are consistent with there being an increased degree of background cortical hyperexcitability in the cortices of individuals predisposed to some ABE-type hallucinations, even in the nonclinical population. The present study also establishes the clinical utility of the pattern-glare task for examining signs of aberrant visual connectivity in relation to visual hallucinations.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2800/2805
Subjects:
?? anomalous body experiencescortical hyperexcitabilityembodimenthallucinationscognitive neurosciencepsychiatry and mental health ??
ID Code:
81710
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
23 Sep 2016 09:16
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
15 Jul 2024 16:22