Robert Dudley1, Guy Dodgson2, Gabrielle Sarll3, Racheal Halhead3, Helen Bolas4, Simon McCarthy-Jones5. 1. Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, UK. Electronic address: r.e.j.dudley@ncl.ac.uk. 2. Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, UK. 3. Newcastle University, UK. 4. School of Psychology, Newcastle University, UK. 5. ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A recent model of a subtype of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) has proposed such experiences may result from increased arousal altering auditory threat perception. METHODS: This study considered this theory using undergraduate students who undertook a new experimental paradigm, the Auditory Threat Discrimination Task (ATDT). This examined the effects of arousal on auditory threat perception (Study 1), and its relation to hallucination-proneness (Study 2). RESULTS: Study 1 (n = 66) found evidence that the high, as compared to low-arousal condition, was associated with a higher level of accurate and false threat detection (as measured by both number of hits and false-alarms). Study 2 addressed some methodological limitations of Study 1 and also found that the high as compared to low-arousal condition, was associated with a higher level of threat detection. Study 2 also found that high hallucination prone participants (n = 20) reported a higher level of perceived threat (as measured by both number of hits and false-alarms), compared to low hallucination prone participants (n = 20). LIMITATIONS: Overall limitations of the work included use of a non-clinical group. Also the increased arousal induced by the experiment was modest and may not fully represent the processes in operation in clinical participants. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide some initial evidence that auditory threat detection increases under conditions of arousal, and are consistent with the proposal that some AVHs may result from hypervigilance to auditory threat.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A recent model of a subtype of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) has proposed such experiences may result from increased arousal altering auditory threat perception. METHODS: This study considered this theory using undergraduate students who undertook a new experimental paradigm, the Auditory Threat Discrimination Task (ATDT). This examined the effects of arousal on auditory threat perception (Study 1), and its relation to hallucination-proneness (Study 2). RESULTS: Study 1 (n = 66) found evidence that the high, as compared to low-arousal condition, was associated with a higher level of accurate and false threat detection (as measured by both number of hits and false-alarms). Study 2 addressed some methodological limitations of Study 1 and also found that the high as compared to low-arousal condition, was associated with a higher level of threat detection. Study 2 also found that high hallucination prone participants (n = 20) reported a higher level of perceived threat (as measured by both number of hits and false-alarms), compared to low hallucination prone participants (n = 20). LIMITATIONS: Overall limitations of the work included use of a non-clinical group. Also the increased arousal induced by the experiment was modest and may not fully represent the processes in operation in clinical participants. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide some initial evidence that auditory threat detection increases under conditions of arousal, and are consistent with the proposal that some AVHs may result from hypervigilance to auditory threat.
Authors: Guy Dodgson; Charlotte Aynsworth; Kaja J Mitrenga; Chistopher Gibbs; Victoria Patton; Charles Fernyhough; Robert Dudley; Carina Ewels; Louise Leach; Ben Alderson-Day; Stephanie Common Journal: Psychol Psychother Date: 2020-12-15 Impact factor: 3.966