The interfering effects of frequent auditory verbal hallucinations on shadowing performance in schizophrenia (letter to the editor)

Currently, two broad theoretical approaches to auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in schizophrenia are recognized (Jones, 2010). The ‘neurological’ model proposes that they are essentially perceptual in nature, arising from pathological overactivity in brain systems devoted to auditory perception. In contrast, the ‘cognitive’ model maintains that they are due to a failure to recognize internal, non-perceptual stimuli – for example, inner speech, mental imagery or intrusive memories – as being self-generated. While the latter approach has been tested in a variety of experimental paradigms (Waters et al., 2012), the main support for the neurological model is circumstantial, coming from clinical observations that auditory phenomena, up to and including people speaking, are sometimes can be seen in patients with epilepsy (Bisulli et al., 2004) or elicited by electrical stimulation of the superior temporal gyrus in patients undergoing neurosurgery (Penfield and Perot, 1963).Financial support: Catalonian Government (2017-SGR-1271 and 2017-SGR-1265 to FIDMAG); Miguel Servet Research Contract (CPII16/00018 to EP-C), Juan de la Cierva-formación Contract (FJCC-2015-02285) and Research Project Grants (PI14/01148 to EP-C, PI14/01691 to P.M. and FFI2016-77647-C2 to WH). WH was additionally supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, Spanish Government, grants FFI2013-40526P, FFI 042177665-77665-4-16)