Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Signs of increased cortical hyperexcitability selectively associated with spontaneous anomalous bodily experiences in a nonclinical population
AU - Braithwaite, Jason J
AU - Broglia, Emma
AU - Brincat, Oliver
AU - Stapley, Louise
AU - Wilkins, Arnold J.
AU - Takahashi, Chie
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Anomalous body experiences
KW - Cortical hyperexcitability
KW - Embodiment
KW - Hallucinations
U2 - 10.1080/13546805.2013.768176
DO - 10.1080/13546805.2013.768176
M3 - Journal article
VL - 18
SP - 549
EP - 573
JO - Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
JF - Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
SN - 1354-6805
IS - 6
ER -