Cognitive neuropsychiatry of hallucinations in schizophrenia : how the brain misleads itself

Abstract

The research reported in this thesis starts from the assumption that hallucinations can be studied in isolation using a cognitive neuropsychiatric approach. The main hypothesis that is investigated states that hallucinations form a continuum from subjective experiences that are common in the normal population to those reported by patients with schizophrenia (and other patients), and are, at least partly, secondary to cognitive distortions that are common in such patients. In addition, these cognitive alterations can be related to certain brain areas that may be compromised in schizophrenia. More specifically, the hypothesis is tested that abnormal mental imagery may be crucial in the false attribution of internally generated messages or other types of information as coming from the outside.